Columbia University students occupy Hamilton Hall
PHOTOS BY: JUDE TAHA
Update: Police storm Hamilton Hall to remove protesters.
Hoards of police in riot gear entered Columbia University’s Greenside campus to arrest dozens of protestors who were occupying the building.
NYPD removed journalists, students, legal observers and faculty from the hall, pushing them with batons. Students and non students were forced by police into John Jay building, before being kettled onto 114th and Amsterdam.
The president of Columbia, Minouche Chafik, authorized NYPD to stay on campus until the institution’s commencement on May 17.
A group of “autonomous students” has occupied Hamilton Hall and renamed the building after Hind Rajab, the young girl who was murdered by Israel earlier this year during their bombardment of Gaza.
“Students took over the building after Columbia’s persistent refusal to divest, complicity in genocide and continued violence against its students. This escalation is in line with the historical student movements of 1968, 1985, and 1996, which Columbia repressed then and celebrates today.
This action will force the University to confront the blood on its hands. We are inspired by the courageous students who are putting their bodies and livelihoods on the line to protest genocide,” the coaltion said in a statement.
Columbia University students said the administration has been negotiating in bad faith with student representatives since their action began nearly two weeks ago. The administration has threatened mass suspension and eviction and even considered calling the National Guard on its students.
These actions are the latest in the University’s seven month complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocidal assault on the Gaza strip, the coalition says.
According to the group’s statement, the “autonomous group of students” will remain in Hamilton Hall until the university “divests from death.”
The university has responded by limiting access to their Morningside campus to only students residing in residential buildings on Campus and employees who provide essential services.
