Columbia students living in the growing pro-Palestine protest encampment on the university’s iconic Upper West Side campus spent Monday doing performing arts and reading poetry while sharing organic snacks.
DailyMail.com gained access to the ‘Gaza Solidarity Camp’, which occupies the South Lawn, where around 100 tents have been pitched by students calling on the university to cease any investment linked to Israel.
Protesters have vowed to remain “until the demands are met,” even after more than 100 students, including the daughter of squad member Ilhan Omar, were arrested on Columbia grounds last week after the university asked the NYPD to crack down on the “trespassers.”
Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, claimed that she was suspended by Barnard College, an institution within Columbia, and banned from campus after her arrest. She was previously based at the camp, but she did not appear to be present during Monday’s demonstrations.
Vegan and dairy-free snacks were on offer along with takeout from Le Pain Quotidien, a stylish bakery.
As tensions flared outside Columbia’s Upper West Side campus on Monday, the students who stoked the outrage were unconcerned.
Students read poetry, exchanged snacks, and generally ignored the political storm going on outside.
The day’s program, complete with performances on “dawn and earth day” and a poetry reading on “fatima”
The camp was not dismantled during the police raid. Instead, it was still bustling Monday as a separate pro-Palestine protest group faced off against a pro-Israel counterdemonstration directly outside the campus on Broadway.
While the protest outside was led by loud shouts of slogans including “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, the atmosphere inside was calmer, with groups enjoying the sun and lying in the tents they had pitched in The grass.
Inside the camp, where volunteers handed out face masks upon entry, students created posters and banners calling on Columbia to get rid of Israel, with slogans including “Resist colonial power by any means necessary.”
A large blackboard with the ‘program’ for Monday indicated that it was ‘Earth Day’ and included an art class at 11 a.m. and a poetry reading scheduled for 5 p.m.
A warning, with some girly scribblings, on one of the many tents.
Students wearing keffiyeh scarves sit next to Palestinian flags. On Monday they made signs, ate fruit and read poetry.
One of the many khaki tents on campus offered first aid to injured protesters.
The students also set up a large makeshift canteen and buffet with snacks including bagels, organic nuts and grains, and fruit. Some stuffed into Dunkin’ donuts.
Catherine Elias, a graduate student and designated spokesperson for the protesters, said they would stay “until the demands are met.”
“It depends on the university how long we stay,” he said. ‘We will be here until they forcibly evict us or the university meets our demands.
“Columbia has learned the hard way that when you try to silence us, when you try to repress us, the movement only grows.”
But not all members of the camp were willing to talk. When DailyMail.com asked one person if she would like to comment on her reasons for joining the protest, the young woman responded that she would not speak to the “right-wing press.”
“You’re not welcome here,” said the woman, who was wearing a mask.
While the students are determined to keep the police away, they have installed emergency boxes to “pressure for safety.”
The atmosphere was much less peaceful outside, where Jewish protesters were told to stay back for their own safety.
While the NYPD was given the green light to make arrests over the weekend, Mayor Eric Adams says they do not have permission to enter the campus to clear the encampment and allow classes to resume.
Jewish professor Shai Davidai was prevented from entering campus today. Police said they could not guarantee his safety.
Among the crowd of pro-Palestinian activists, many of them recognizable by their black and white keffiyeh scarves, two young Jewish students who were also inside the camp expressed frustration that the grass had been taken.
Chaya Droznik, 22, a computer science student, and her friend, Jessica Schwalb, 21, who studies human rights, said they entered the campus to highlight the problems they say the protests have created on campus.
“People are afraid to come here,” says Schwalb.
“I deserve equal access to this lawn, but they try to keep us out or try to evict us.”
Droznik, who wore a Star of David pendant on a chain around his neck, said the demonstrations made Jewish students feel “unsafe.”
“There are people who have gone home, who have left because they don’t feel safe,” she said.
Police told a Jewish professor who wanted to enter the site today that he could not do so because they could not guarantee his safety.
On Monday afternoon, a large group of pro-Palestinian professors walked out and gave speeches in front of the university library, which overlooks the South Lawn camp.