Latest news with #StrikeForGaza
Kuwait Times
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Kuwait Times
Big pro-Palestine demo at Columbia
US charges NY man with hate crimes over university protests NEW YORK: Police arrested dozens of Columbia University students who seized part of the school's main library on Wednesday in one of the biggest pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus since last year's wave of protests against the Zionist entity's war in Gaza. At least 40 to 50 students, their hands cuffed with plastic zip-ties, were seen being loaded into New York Police Department vans and buses outside Butler Library as NYPD officers swept through the six-story building to round up other protesters who refused to leave. Police arrived on campus in force at the request of Columbia officials who said the student demonstrators occupying the library's second-floor main reading room were engaged in trespassing. Videos and photographs on social media showed protesters, most wearing masks, standing on tables, beating drums and unfurling banners saying 'Strike For Gaza' and 'Liberated Zone' beneath the chandeliers of the Lawrence A Wein Reading Room. US President Donald Trump had lashed out at Columbia over pro-Palestinian protests on campus last year, saying they were 'antisemitic' and showed a failure to protect Jewish students. Student protesters, including some Jewish organizers, counter that Trump and fellow conservative politicians who are strongly pro-Zionist are unfairly conflating pro-Palestinian protests and antisemitism. Columbia University said late on Wednesday that it had requested NYPD assistance 'in securing the building', and that two of its public safety officials were hurt in the standoff. Protesters are escorted out of Butler Library after their arrest for occupying the library space. An NYPD spokesperson confirmed 'multiple arrests' of protesters who occupied the library but did not provide an exact number. 'Everyone has the right to peacefully protest. But violence, vandalism or destruction of property are completely unacceptable,' New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on social media. Before police arrived on the scene, university public safety personnel were seen locking the front doors to the library, preventing any more students from entering the building and sparking a brief episode of pushing and shoving outside. One student appeared to have been injured in the fracas. Another individual was seen being carried out of the building on a stretcher. With further entry to the library barred, a growing crowd of demonstrators outside the building moved to the streets just beyond the campus gates. One student organization representing the protesters said on social media that school security had assaulted demonstrators and acknowledged that some activists had refused to show their IDs to officials. Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a collection of student groups, recirculated long-standing demands on social media on Wednesday for the university to no longer invest its $14.8 billion endowment in weapons makers and other companies that support the Zionist entity's military occupation of Palestinian territories. The protesters in the library also demanded the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and Columbia graduate student who remains in a Louisiana immigrant jail after he was among the first to be arrested for possible deportation. On Monday, pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a University of Washington building, demanding the school cut ties with Boeing over its contracts with the Zionist military. The university said 34 protesters were arrested, and charges of trespassing, property destruction and disorderly conduct would be referred to prosecutors. On Wednesday, it said the 21 students who were among those arrested have been suspended and banned from all of the school's campuses. Separately, the US Department of Justice charged a New York man with federal hate crimes in an indictment unsealed on Wednesday, accusing him of assaulting Jewish victims, including two Columbia University students, during three separate protests over the war in Gaza. The DOJ said that Tarek Bazrouk, 20, 'deliberately targeted and assaulted Jewish victims at protests relating to the (Zionist)/Gaza war.' Bazrouk was arrested on Wednesday morning. — Reuters Bazrouk's case appears to be the first time the DOJ has brought federal hate crime charges related to the recent Columbia protests. The assaults allegedly all took place in Manhattan, at an April 2024 protest outside the New York Stock Exchange, a Dec 2024 protest outside Columbia University, and a January 2025 protest near Gramercy Park. The DOJ said that Bazrouk showed support for Hamas and called himself a 'Jew hater' in text messages obtained from a search of his cell phone. Bazrouk is charged with three counts of committing hate crimes, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, according to DOJ. — Reuters
TimesLIVE
08-05-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Dozens of students arrested in pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University
Police arrested dozens of Columbia University students who seized part of the school's main library on Wednesday in one of the biggest pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus since last year's wave of protests against Israel's war in Gaza. At least 40 to 50 students, their hands cuffed with plastic zip-ties, were seen being loaded into New York police department (NYPD) vans and buses outside Butler Library as NYPD officers swept through the six-storey building to round up other protesters who refused to leave. Police arrived on campus in force at the request of Columbia officials who said the student demonstrators occupying the library's second-floor main reading room were engaged in trespassing. Videos and photographs on social media showed protesters, most wearing masks, standing on tables, beating drums and unfurling banners saying 'Strike For Gaza' and 'Liberated Zone' beneath the chandeliers of the Lawrence A Wein Reading Room. US President Donald Trump had lashed out at Columbia over pro-Palestinian protests on campus last year, saying they were antisemitic and showed a failure to protect Jewish students. Student protesters, including some Jewish organisers, counter that Trump and fellow conservative politicians who are strongly pro-Israel are unfairly conflating pro-Palestinian protests and anti-Semitism. Columbia's board of trustees has been negotiating with the Trump administration, which announced in March that it had cancelled hundreds of millions of dollars of grants to the university for scientific research. The university has said it has worked to combat anti-Semitism and other prejudice on its campus while seeking to fend off accusations from civil rights groups that it was giving in to government intrusions on academic freedom. Columbia University said late on Wednesday it had requested NYPD assistance 'in securing the building' and that two of its public safety officials were hurt in the standoff. An NYPD spokesperson confirmed 'multiple arrests' of protesters who occupied the library but did not provide an exact number. 'Everyone has the right to peacefully protest. But violence, vandalism or destruction of property are completely unacceptable,' New York governor Kathy Hochul said on social media. Before police arrived on the scene, university public safety personnel were seen locking the front doors to the library, preventing any more students from entering the building and sparking a brief episode of pushing and shoving outside. One student appeared to have been injured in the fracas. Another individual was seen being carried out of the building on a stretcher. With further entry to the library barred, a growing crowd of demonstrators outside the building moved to the streets just beyond the campus gates. One student organisation representing the protesters said on social media that school security had assaulted demonstrators and acknowledged that some activists had refused to show their IDs to officials. Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a collection of student groups, recirculated long-standing demands on social media on Wednesday for the university to no longer invest its $14.8bn (R270.69bn) endowment in weapons makers and other companies that support Israel's military occupation of Palestinian territories. On Monday pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a University of Washington building, demanding the school cut ties with Boeing over its contracts with the Israeli military. The university said 34 protesters were arrested, and charges of trespassing, property destruction and disorderly conduct would be referred to prosecutors. On Wednesday, it said the 21 students who were among those arrested have been suspended and banned from all of the school's campuses. Columbia was at the forefront of a pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel student protest movement that swept across US campuses last year over Israel's war in Gaza, which began in 2023. Trump, a Republican, is also trying to deport some pro-Palestinian international students at US schools, saying their presence could harm US foreign policy interests. The protesters in the library also demanded the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and Columbia graduate student who remains in a Louisiana immigrant jail after he was among the first to be arrested for possible deportation.
NDTV
08-05-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
80 Arrested After Pro-Palestine Protesters Lay Siege To Columbia Library
Washington: At least 80 people were arrested on Wednesday evening after a group of mask-clad pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched into Columbia University's Butler Library and occupied a reading room, reigniting tensions over the Gaza war on US campuses. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump Administration was reviewing the visa status of the "trespassers and vandals" who took over Columbia University's library. "Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation," he said in a post on X. We are reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University's library. Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation. — Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 8, 2025 The protest at Columbia University began around 3 pm (local time), when masked protesters, many of whom were wearing keffiyehs, entered the second-floor reading room of Butler Library. Videos and photographs shared on social media showed protesters standing on tables, beating drums and unfurling banners saying "Strike For Gaza" and "Liberated Zone" beneath the chandeliers of the Lawrence A Wein Reading Room. Anti-Israel, pro-Palestine protesters have taken over Columbia University's library. All of these people, if they are students, should be immediately expelled: — Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) May 7, 2025 They also hung Palestinian flags and other banners on bookshelves in an ornate reading room. Some protesters also appear to have scrawled "Columbia will burn" across framed pictures. The university's acting president, Claire Shipman, said the protesters were asked repeatedly to show identification and to leave, but they refused. Following this, the school called the NYPD "to assist in securing the building and the safety of our community," she said in a statement Wednesday evening. Shipman said two university public safety officers sustained injuries as protesters forced their way into the building. "These actions are outrageous," she said, adding that the disruption came as students were studying and preparing for final exams. Later videos showed police officers, in helmets, streaming into Columbia University Wednesday evening to remove the mask-clad pro-Palestinian demonstrators from the school's main library. Other videos show campus security officers barring another group of protesters from entering the library, with both sides shoving to try and force the other group aside. Watch: NYPD transporting the arrested protesters who broke into Columbia University library tonight. These degenerates have been emboldened in their lawlessness for far too long. Enough is enough. Nobody is above the law, and the silent majority of law-abiding New Yorkers are… — Chaskel Bennett (@ChaskelBennett) May 8, 2025 Police said at least 80 people had been taken into custody, though it wasn't clear how many came from the demonstration inside the library and how many were outside the building. The Trump administration has cracked down on international students and scholars at several American universities who had participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations or criticised Israel over its military action in Gaza. Columbia University scholar Mahmoud Khalil, for example, is a legal US resident with no criminal record who was detained in March over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Wednesday's demonstration and the effort to break it up came the same evening that the US Justice Department announced it had brought hate-crime charges against a man who had been repeatedly arrested at pro-Palestinian demonstrations over the past year, including one held near Columbia. An indictment charged Tarek Bazrouk, 20, with assaulting Jewish people at the demonstrations. Columbia University in March announced sweeping policy changes related to protests following Trump administration threats to revoke its federal funding. Among them are a ban on students wearing masks to conceal their identities and a rule that those protesting on campus must present their identification when asked. The school also said it had hired new public safety officers empowered to make arrests on campus.
Daily Maverick
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Dozens of students arrested in pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University
Police arrested dozens of Columbia University students who seized part of the school's main library on Wednesday in one of the biggest pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus since last year's wave of protests against Israel's war in Gaza. At least 40 to 50 students, their hands cuffed with plastic zip-ties, were seen being loaded into New York Police Department vans and buses outside Butler Library as NYPD officers swept through the six-story building to round up other protesters who refused to leave. Police arrived on campus in force at the request of Columbia officials who said the student demonstrators occupying the library's second-floor main reading room were engaged in trespassing. Videos and photographs on social media showed protesters, most wearing masks, standing on tables, beating drums and unfurling banners saying 'Strike For Gaza' and 'Liberated Zone' beneath the chandeliers of the Lawrence A. Wein Reading Room. U.S. President Donald Trump had lashed out at Columbia over pro-Palestinian protests on campus last year, saying they were antisemitic and showed a failure to protect Jewish students. Student protesters, including some Jewish organizers, counter that Trump and fellow conservative politicians who are strongly pro-Israel are unfairly conflating pro-Palestinian protests and antisemitism. Columbia's board of trustees has been negotiating with the Trump administration, which announced in March that it hadcanceled hundreds of millions of dollars of grants to the university for scientific research. The university has said it has worked to combat antisemitism and other prejudice on its campus while seeking to fend off accusations from civil rights groups that it was giving in to government intrusions on academic freedom. Columbia University said late on Wednesday that it had requested NYPD assistance 'in securing the building,' and that two of its public safety officials were hurt in the standoff. SCUFFLE AT FRONT DOOR An NYPD spokesperson confirmed 'multiple arrests' of protesters who occupied the library but did not provide an exact number. 'Everyone has the right to peacefully protest. But violence, vandalism or destruction of property are completely unacceptable,' New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on social media. Before police arrived on the scene, university public safety personnel were seen locking the front doors to the library, preventing any more students from entering the building and sparking a brief episode of pushing and shoving outside. One student appeared to have been injured in the fracas. Another individual was seen being carried out of the building on a stretcher. With further entry to the library barred, a growing crowd of demonstrators outside the building moved to the streets just beyond the campus gates. One student organization representing the protesters said on social media that school security had assaulted demonstrators and acknowledged that some activists had refused to show their IDs to officials. Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a collection of student groups, recirculated long-standing demands on social media on Wednesday for the university to no longer invest its $14.8 billion endowment in weapons makers and other companies that support Israel's military occupation of Palestinian territories. On Monday, pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a University of Washington building, demanding the school cut ties with Boeing over its contracts with the Israeli military. The university said 34 protesters were arrested, and charges of trespassing, property destruction and disorderly conduct would be referred to prosecutors. On Wednesday, it said the 21 students who were among those arrested have been suspended and banned from all of the school's campuses. Columbia was at the forefront of a pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel student protest movement that swept across U.S. campuses last year over Israel's war in Gaza, which began in 2023. Trump, a Republican, is also trying to deport some pro-Palestinian international students at U.S. schools, saying their presence could harm U.S. foreign policy interests. The protesters in the library also demanded the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and Columbia graduate student who remains in a Louisiana immigrant jail after he was among the first to be arrested for possible deportation.
Indian Express
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Over 50 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at Columbia University
New York Police arrested dozens of students from Columbia University for staging pro-Palestinian protest and seizing part of the university's main library on Wednesday, in one of the largest pro-Palestine demonstrations held on the campus since last year's wave of protests against Israel's war in Gaza. At least 50 students were seen loaded into vans and buses of the New York Police Department outside of the Butler Library with their hands cuffed with plastic zip-ties, as police rounded up other protesters in the six-story building who refused to leave. A BBC report stated that two university security officers were injured when protesters barged their way into the Butler Library on Wednesday, University President Claire Shipman in a statement said, calling the protesters actions 'outrageous'. Anti-Israel, pro-Palestine protesters have taken over Columbia University's library. All of these people, if they are students, should be immediately expelled: — Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) May 7, 2025 Videos on social media showed protesters wearing masks, standing on tables, chanting with banners reading 'Strike For Gaza' and 'Liberated Zone'. We are reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University's library. Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation. — Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 8, 2025 US President Donald Trump had earlier blasted Columbia University over pro-Palestinian protests on campus last year, stating that they were anti-semitic and the university showed a failure to protect Jewish students. At the direct request of Columbia University, the NYPD is responding to an ongoing situation on campus where individuals have occupied a library and are trespassing. — NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) May 7, 2025 Columbia University on Wednesday had requested the NYPD's assistance 'in securing the building,' as protesters had barged into the library with banners. According to Columbia Spectator, which is a campus newspaper, about 70 protesters were detained by police. In a post on X, NYPD stated 'At the direct request of Columbia University, the NYPD is responding to an ongoing situation on campus where individuals have occupied a library and are trespassing.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said they are 'reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University's library.' Columbia's President Shipman said that while the protesters were seized up in one room of the library, 'it is completely unacceptable that some individuals are choosing to disrupt academic activities as our students are studying and preparing for final exams'.
