Columbia students rebuild anti-Israel solidarity camp less than 24 hours after mass arrests
Student protesters at Columbia University reassembled their anti-Israel tent encampment on a central campus lawn early Friday — less than 24 hours after the NYPD arrested more than 100 people at the original installation.
Dozens of students sat with blankets and Palestinian flags on the lawn opposite the one where hundreds of others camped out for nearly 48 hours until yesterday’s faceoff, video from the independent reporter Spyder Monkey showed.
The site of the original protest was littered with construction materials, the footage indicated.
It was not immediately clear if the materials had been placed on the grass purposefully to discourage students from re-erecting tents there.
Antisemitism controversy at Columbia University: Key events
- More than 280 anti-Israel demonstrators were cuffed at Columbia and the City of New York campuses overnight in a “massive” NYPD operation.
- One hundred and nine people were nabbed at the Ivy League campus after cops responded to Columbia’s request to help oust a destructive mob that had illegally taken over the Hamilton Hall academic building late Tuesday, NYC Mayor Eric Adams and police said.
- Hizzoner blamed the on-campus chaos on insurgents who have a “history of escalating situations and trying to create chaos” instead of protesting peacefully.
- Columbia’s embattled president Minouche Shafik, who has faced mounting calls to resign for not cracking down sooner, issued a statement Wednesday saying the on-campus violence had “pushed the university to the brink.”
- Columbia University president Minouche Shafik was accused of “gross negligence” while testifying before Congress. Shafik refused to say if the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is antisemitic.
- More than 100 Columbia professors signed a letter defending students who support the “military action” by Hamas.
The group appeared on the second lawn sometime in the early hours, and was already dozens strong by sunrise, additional footage from independent journalist Olga Fe showed.
A small sign that read “Join Us” in purple lettering was placed next to a large sign that declared the area a “Gaza Solidarity encampment.”
The student protesters appeared Friday despite the fact that at least 108 people were arrested in the original “liberated zone” Thursday afternoon.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the pro-terror protests at colleges across the US:
- Tear gas sprayed at UCLA encampment as cops face off with anti-Israel protesters wielding fire extinguishers
- Stanford submits ‘deeply disturbing’ photo of campus anti-Israel protester wearing Hamas headband to FBI
- Iranian college offers free tuition to US students expelled for participating in anti-Israel protests: ‘Our people’
- MAP: US colleges where students have been arrested over anti-Israel protests
University president Minouche Shafik said she “authorized” the NYPD to crack down on the encampment due to fears about community safety.
“I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances. The individuals who established the encampment violated a long list of rules and policies,” she wrote in an email to faculty, staff and students.
Ahead of the police intervention, participants had been warned by the administration that they would be suspended pending investigation if they did not leave the site by 9 p.m. Wednesday.
