New York City police officers surged onto Columbia University’s campus late on Tuesday, breaking up an escalating protest and arresting pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had barricaded themselves in a building.
Live television broadcasts showed officers entering Hamilton Hall, the latest focal point of the protest, which had been occupied by demonstrators early on Tuesday. Dozens of people have been detained and loaded into buses, CNN reported.
Columbia president Minouche Shafik said she asked police to clear all protest encampments and maintain a campus presence through at least May 17.
Photo: EPA-EFE
At about 11:40pm, Columbia personnel took down tents and removed supplies from the main encampment, the Columbia Daily Spectator reported.
The police action capped two weeks of rising tensions at Columbia, punctuated by more than 100 arrests on April 18 and subsequent protests that culminated with the takeover of Hamilton Hall. The activists have condemned the Israeli military campaign in Gaza that the Hamas-run health ministry says has left more than 34,000 people dead, and are calling for the university to divest from companies that are supplying weapons to Israel.
The earlier clash on the school’s New York City campus helped inspire protests at other colleges in the country, sparking recriminations and drawing in everyone from students to faculty and billionaire donors to politicians.
Columbia in a statement late on Tuesday said that the New York Police Department (NYPD) was brought in shortly after 9pm to restore order and ensure the safety of the campus community.
“After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” a spokesman for the school said. “Columbia public safety personnel were forced out of the building, and a member of our facilities team was threatened. We will not risk the safety of our community or the potential for further escalation.”
In a letter to Michael Gerber, NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters, Shafik asked the police to clear all individuals not just from Hamilton Hall but also from campus encampments.
She also requested a police presence on campus through at least May 17 to “maintain order and ensure encampments are not re-established.”
The university’s commencement is scheduled for May 15.
In the letter, Shafik said that the decision to call on the police was made with the support of the university’s trustees after determining “that the building occupation, the encampments, and related disruptions pose a clear and present danger to persons, property, and the substantial functioning of the university.”
Farther uptown, police made arrests outside City College of New York, dispersing protesters and erecting steel barricades in the area.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
RSS