- Ivy League College students rebuilt pro-Palestinian camp on Friday
- The NYPD told DailyMail.com that officers arrested more than 100 people in 48 hours.
- Ten have been charged primarily with obstructing government administration.
Defiant Columbia students have returned to their ‘Gaza solidarity camp’ despite facing more than 100 arrests yesterday along with fierce counter-demonstrations.
Ivy League College students rebuilt the pro-Palestinian camp Friday morning as they vowed to resist being “silenced” by university officials.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik, who testified before Congress about campus anti-Semitism on Wednesday, reported the students to the NYPD, and footage shows police herding a group of protesters into a large police van on Thursday. .
The NYPD told DailyMail.com that officers arrested more than 100 people during the two-day sit-in on Wednesday and Thursday. Ten have been charged so far, most of them with resisting arrest and obstructing government administration.
A small number of more unruly protesters have also been charged with assaulting a police officer, disorderly conduct and harassment, the department added.
Defiant Columbia students have returned to their ‘Gaza solidarity camp’ despite facing more than 100 arrests yesterday along with fierce counter-demonstrations.
Ivy League College students rebuilt the pro-Palestinian camp Friday morning as they vowed to resist being “silenced” by university officials.
The pro-Palestinian students returned to the university’s Butler Lawns at 5 a.m. Friday.
Several fights also broke out when protesters encountered pro-Israel counterprotesters.
The pro-Palestinian students returned to the university’s Butler Lawns at 5 a.m. Friday. Footage recorded later that morning shows them clapping and chanting “we will not be moved.”
Speaking through a megaphone, a student read a message she said someone from Gaza had sent thanking them for their “continued support for the Palestinian cause.”
Dozens of students listened to her speak and repeated each line while wearing keffiyehs – a monochromatic printed scarf that serves as a symbol of Palestinian identity – and waving the national flag.
A live broadcast from the lawn overnight showed hundreds of students drumming and singing.
Protester Maryam Iqbal said The nation: ‘Being suspended by Palestine is an honor. “The more they try to silence us, the more noise we will make.”
During the day on Thursday, dozens of police dressed in riot gear arrived to disperse the camps.
Columbia President Shafik said they were called after “the students involved rejected attempts to resolve the situation.”
“As a result, NYPD officers are now on campus and the camp cleanup process is underway,” he said.
Videos released by organizers show people handcuffed while protesters shouted “shame on you” at officers.
NYPD officers arrested more than 100 people at the camp on Wednesday and Thursday.
The camp was organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a coalition led by students from several groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.
They gathered to protest what they called the university’s “continued financial investment in corporations that profit from apartheid, genocide, and the Israeli military occupation of Palestine.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, was among those arrested, and is shown worried in the footage as police handcuff her.
The daughter of the staunch Democrat had previously been suspended by her university, Barnard College, for joining the protest on the Upper West Side.