Police arrest scholar who supposedly threw lit Molotov cocktail from bedroom window
Some pro-Palestinian students who chained themselves to walls at Columbia University were violently removed Wednesday during a rally against immigration officers ‘ detention of Mahmoud Khalil, according to the scholar newspapers and social media posts.
The campus even faced upheaval Monday in a separate occurrence when a scholar allegedly threw a handmade firebomb from his flat windows, the New York Post reports. It is unclear if the situations are linked.
On Wednesday, Public Safety officials removed individuals from two distinct gates at the New York City school, first at a wall near St. Paul’s Temple in the early evening, and then in the night at another by Earl Hall, the Columbia Spectator reviews.
Individuals chained themselves to the walls to help Khalil, a grad student detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March. Immigration authorities revoked his green card after Khalil helped to guide pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia, according to the AP.
In the early evening, school personnel issued a notice before the soldiers removed the individuals who had locked themselves to the wall, according to the student news:
Jessica Rentz, a University member, informed activists that they were violating University legislation preventing individuals from obstructing a University service and took pictures of all of the protesters ‘ Columbia IDs at around 1: 20 p. m.
Public Safety officers cut the locks and forced protesters outside the gate at around 2 p. m. Protesters then sat down outside the gate and locked arms.
About two hours later, several student protesters used bike locks to chain themselves to another gate on campus:
At approximately 10: 50 p. m., some protesters dispersed, with others remaining tethered to the gates. A University delegate distributed papers to demonstrators informing them they were” suspected to be in violation of the Rules of University Conduct”.
At roughly 11: 15 p. m., Public Safety officers cut through the bike locks with bolt cutters and began removing each chained protester.
New York Police Department officers were present on both scenes, but the Public Safety officers, who are employees of the university, primarily handled the incidents, according to the reports.
One of the protesters, Maryam Alwan accused officers of manhandling students in a statement to the Spectator.
” Public Safety is not authorized to manhandle students”, Alwan said. ” I was only chained to the gate for a few minutes and the University Delegates said that they would return shortly, yet Public Safety officer Bobby Lau beelined towards me with massive bolt cutters before I had the chance to leave”.
Also this week, the New York City Police Department said police arrested a Columbia student for allegedly throwing an unlit Molotov cocktail out of his dorm window. A Molotov cocktail is a homemade incendiary device, sometimes called a firebomb.
The student, Javen Jovero, 22,” sparked a panic when he filled a plastic bottle with rubbing alcohol and a sock and hurled it from a dormitory on the school’s East Campus” on Monday, the New York Post reports:
While no one was injured as the makeshift firebomb wasn’t lit, police received multiple 911 calls from worried students around 8: 30 p. m.
Jovero— who wrestled for the Lions, according to the team’s website — was taken to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, police said.
The electrical engineering student and Southern California native was later charged with criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment, according to police.
Police have not linked it to the political turmoil that’s gripped the Manhattan school since Hamas ‘ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
MORE: Wisconsin professor on leave for allegedly flipping College Republicans’ table
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Public Safety officers remove a pro-Palestinian student who chained herself to a gate at Columbia University. Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition/Instagram
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