In a loud show that included scuffles with police, almost 80 pro-Palestinian activists were detained on Wednesday after taking control of a portion of Columbia University’s collection, according to video footage.
Acting President Claire Shipman stated in a statement that two Columbia public health officials sustained injury during a” group wave” when people attempted to force their way into the tower and into Room 301. These activities are outrageous.
She said that people who took part in the disruption to Reading Room 301 were repeatedly asked for recognition and to left, and that they were also told that breaking our rules and regulations could lead to trespassing arrests.
According to The Wall Street Journal, about 100 concealed protesters forced their way past safety soldiers and pushed through checkpoints into the school’s principal collection five hours later and were being marched out the door by police with their arms zip-tied behind their backs, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The 78 arrested received workplace demeanor tickets, according to a NYPD director, according to a report from the Columbia Spectator scholar paper. This was the largest size arrest at the Ivy League university since April 2024, when 109 people were detained for allegedly taking over a campus building known as Hamilton Hall.
College students are expected to spray” Columbia will burn for the martyrs” on the library walls. This is a completely normal occurrence. Twitter.com/KyHGv4NI0
— Seth Mandel ( @SethAMandel ) May 8, 2025
*At least 50 of the 80 protestors detained last night are Columbia University students, according to police sources.
The others, according to the investigators, would NOT share if they were students.
However, the group was taken and fingerprinted.
HSI is now requesting those fingerprints as well as the names of the… pictures. twitter.com/iUS3WjBVqB
— Alexis McAdams ( @AlexisMcAdamsTV ) May 8, 2025
The protesters “had burst through a security gate shortly after 3 p.m. and hung banners in the soaring main room of Butler Library’s second floor, renaming the space” the Basel Al-Araj Popular University,” according to the New York Times reported.
They were prevented from leaving by Columbia security personnel unless they presented their identification, which sparked an hours-long standoff. Crowds gathered outside the library, creating a chaotic scene. For the first time since the occupation of Hamilton Hall, Columbia administrators had called the New York City police back to campus by around 7 p.m., according to the Times.
Columbia University announced the library was restored on Thursday.
The third floor reading room, which was recently renovated and put to use, is now accessible to students, according to the statement.
According to The Journal, Columbia leadership responded to the protest with a more stringent schedule than it did last year.
The school’s response to the protest contrasted with how it handled it last year, when pro-Palestinian protests and encampments sparked chaos and violent uprisings, forcing the school to move classes online and halt its main graduation ceremony. For the first time in more than 50 years, the school now has expanded access to student arrest authority, according to the report.
MORE: Judge orders Trump administration to deport the foreign leader of the pro-Palestinian protests in the country.
On Wednesday, anti-Israel student protesters clash with Columbia University police in Butler Library.
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