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.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS