US student protests: 300 arrests in Columbia University chaos (2024)

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UCLA cancelled its classes on Wednesday after counter-protesters stormed a pro-Palestine demonstration wielding sticks. At least one man was pepper sprayed during the clash.

“Due to the distress caused by the violence that took place on Royce Quad late last night and early this morning, all classes are cancelled today,” the university said on social media. “Please avoid the Royce Quad area. “

Activists who took over a building at Columbia University are not following in the footsteps of Vietnam War protesters, its president said.

Baroness Shafik said Columbia had been “pushed... to the brink” by months of demonstrations, and claimed the students who occupied Hamilton Hall on Tuesday were indulging in “destruction, not political speech”.

She wrote to students and academics:

Columbia has a long and proud tradition of protest and activism on many important issues such as the Vietnam War, civil rights, and the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa.

Today’s protesters are also fighting for an important cause, for the rights of Palestinians and against the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza. They have many supporters in our community and have a right to express their views and engage in peaceful protest.

But students and outside activists breaking Hamilton Hall doors, mistreating our Public Safety officers and maintenance staff, and damaging property are acts of destruction, not political speech.

The pro-Palestine protesters at UCLA have accused the university of doing “nothing” to stop an attack on their encampment on Tuesday night.

Vincent Doehr, a spokesperson for the demonstrating students, told CNN that, as the clashes began, “the police the university had hired, the private security guards, stared and watched as this happened despite us warning the (University of California) repeatedly that this was likely to happen”.

Ten protesters have been arrested at the University of South Florida, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

Police used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators who had gathered at the university campus in Tampa, after they ignored several requests to leave, said Jessica Lang, the sheriff’s spokeswoman.

“This is Florida, a law and order state. Every student, regardless of color, creed or religion, should be able to feel safe and learn in a secure environment,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement.

At least 14 people have been arrested in New Orleans after police cleared a pro-Palestine protest encampment at Tulane University.

The campus police, the Louisiana State Police and the New Orleans Police forcibly removed the demonstrators from the site, the university said, calling the camp an “unlawful demonstration”.

Police officers had surrounded the encampment on Tuesday, but it was not until Wednesday morning that they swept in to break up the protest, the Tulane Hullabaloo, the university’s student newspaper, reported.

The university is also investigating reports that teaching staff participated in the protests.

An operation to begin clearing the protest encampment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has begun.

Local broadcaster WMTV showed footage of police with riot shield advancing into a crowd chanting pro-Palestine slogans.

The demonstrators can be seen linking their arms together as the police push on, using batons to drive the protesters away, while other officers began dismantling tents and barricades.

Campus police had given the protesters 15 minutes to take down and remove their tents, The Daily Cardinal, the university’s student newspaper, reported.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has condemnedNew York City’s mayor and the presidents of Columbia University over a “nightmare in the making” as hundreds of officers stormed a building on the campus.

Dozens of student protestors were arrested after police broke in through a second story window at Hamilton Hall on the campus.

Columbia officials said that they were “left with no choice” but to involve the police after they said non-students were involved in the hall’s occupation.

Mayor Eric Adam said that what was once a peaceful protest had been “co-opted by professionals outside agitators.”

Read more below.

Violent clashes broke out on the campus of the University of California in Los Angeles in the early hours of Wednesday, when counter-demonstrators stormed a pro-Palestinian encampment.

Aerial footage showed protestors beating each other with sticks and attempting to rip down wooden boards being used as a makeshift barricade by the students. At least one firework was launched into the camp.

The mayor said once police intelligence detected that, they “alerted” Columbia University: “you have more than a peaceful protest on your hands”.

Watch Mr Adams briefing in full below.

Here is a summary of today’s events.

• Hundreds of NYPD police officers fought to control two protests at Columbia University, split between a sit-in at Hamilton Hall and an encampment on the West Lawn.
• The NYPD broke into Hamilton Hall via a second floor window.
• Students, with their hands bound by zip ties, were swiftly escorted away from the campus and loaded into a law enforcement bus.
• Tensions reached boiling point at UCLA as a group of counter-protesters swarmed the campus wielding sticks and yellow spray.
• The Los Angeles police arrived at the university at around 1:50 am after a request for support.
• At around 3 am, a line of officers arrived at the camp and threatened the remaining counter-protesters with arrest if they didn’t leave the area.

The University of California, Los Angeles, called in law enforcement officers early on Wednesday after violent clashes broke out at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on campus, a university official said early Wednesday.

The Los Angeles police were “responding immediately” to a request for support from the university, according to the office of the Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass.

At around 1:50 am, riot police arrived on the scene and some counter-protesters began to disperse.

However, the police did not immediately break up the clashes at the encampment, allowing the violence to continue unchallenged.

At around 3 am, a line of officers arrived at the camp and forced the remaining counter-protestors to leave the area, or face arrest.

A number of reports have condemned the police for waiting so long to step in and stop the fighting.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, police said they were spraying “chemical irritant munitions” and ordering crowds to disperse in response to an “unlawful assembly.”

The university said that its president had directed university police “to immediately enforce campus use policies and all corresponding laws without further warning.”

Meanwhile, state and local police were helping campus police disperse protesters at Tulane University, said a spokeswoman for the New Orleans Police Department.

The university President, Michael Fitts, wrote in a letter that six arrests and seven suspensions were made.

A university professor and former police officer has hit out at the “inexplicable delay” in officers appearing on the scene at UCLA – where he said counter-demonstrators had been launching bear spray into the student encampment.

“What we have here has been an ongoing riot for hours,” Brian Levin, professor at California State University, and founder of the Centre for the Study of Hate and Extremism, told Sky News.

“It’s gone on so long that a local columnist said ‘even the helicopters had to refuel’. So there’s been an inexplicable delay with regard to law enforcement getting onto the scene in any meaningful way.”

Prof Levin called the situation “terrible” and warned that there will be “a lot of questions” as to why a stronger police presence was not deployed.

A group of counter-protesters, clad in black and white masks, surround a protestor that has been pulled to the ground.

One holds up a sign that reads: ‘Hamas, free the hostages.’

The scenes at UCLA come after police raided Columbia University’s campus in New York City on Tuesday

The unrest at UCLA comes after police cleared Columbia University’s campus in New York City on Tuesday and evicted a building occupied by pro-Palestinian student protesters.

The NYPD said that more than 100 demonstrators had been arrested.

That’s the end of our live coverage. We’ll update you again on the pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University later on Wednesday.

In the meantime, read the latest news and expert analysis:

• Video: Columbia protester asks for ‘basic humanitarian aid’ for occupiers
• Why protesters may be emboldened after the highly publicised arrests
• Joe Biden accuses Gaza protesters of hate speech

On paper, the protesters’s demands are relatively mundane. In light of the conflict in Gaza, and Israel’s continued bombardment of Palestinian villages, the students asked that Columbia sell off its investments in Israeli companies, declare its shareholdings and cancel a planned “global centre” in Tel Aviv. Baroness Shafik, Columbia’s president, refused those demands on Monday and, as a result, the students decided to escalate their demonstration. The university had little choice but to call in police – but acting to remove students may only embolden a cause that has swept the US...

Read more: Columbia protesters got what they wanted

Kaz Daughtry, the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Operations, said before police moved in that the protesters inside Hamilton Hall may be charged with “burglary in the third degree, criminal mischief and trespassing”.

Those at the encampment could be charged with “trespassing and disorderly conduct”, she said.

The protesters also face sanctions from Columbia itself. Those on the West Lawn face suspension, while the students who broke in to Hamilton Hall on Monday night face expulsion, a spokesman said earlier on Tuesday.

As the Columbia sit-in appeared to be concluding, one protester in a keffiyah sounded a note of dejection but said the police action was merely a setback.

‘‘It always ends this way because there are more police than us,’’ the young woman said.

Asked if taking over the hall was a step too far, she said: “Nothing is too far in the face of a genocide.”

But it has been a feature if the anti-Israel pro-Palestinian protests to date that many do not wish to comment unless they have been “ media-trained”.

Another protestor said she was not disappointed by the outcome. “Liberation is coming,” she said. “ You can quote me on that. Hell yeah.”

A NYPD officer remarked that he anticipated a long night on duty.

“They’re young and full of vigour so I don’t think they’re going home anytime soon,” he said and chuckled.

Donald Trump has released an attack advert criticising Joe Biden over the campus protests unfolding at US universities.

A post on his Truth Social platform shows videos of protesters chanting “we are all Hamas” and smashing up university property.

The video also includes some of Mr Biden’s comments on the protesters, selectively edited to give the impression he supports them.

“They have a point,” he says in one clip. In another, he says: “I don’t resent their passion.”

In reality, Mr Biden has been strongly critical of the protesters, and on Tuesday accused them of “hate speech”. But this video shows that Mr Trump is intending to make the protests an election issue:

Police are yet to confirm how many people have been arrested. But a video shared by Tom Slater, a Columbia professor, suggests dozens of students were taken away by police.

Prof Slater shared footage of a bus pulling away from the university campus. The bus contained students who had been arrested, he said, adding that it was was “one of many”.

The NYPD used flash bang grenades this evening to distract the protesters, but has denied using tear gas to suppress the demonstrations on Columbia’s campus and outside the gates.

CNN reported comments from an NYPD spokesman describing the use of “distraction devices,” including flash bangs and other methods. The spokesman would not confirm the number of people who have been arrested.

Flash bang grenades are hand-thrown devices which upon detonation deliver a bright flash and loud noise. They are non-lethal but have caused injuries when police used them to control crowds during past protests.

Columbia has released a letter sent to the NYPD on Tuesday from Baroness Shafik, the British-American peer who is president of the university.

In the two-page letter, she described the break-in at Hamilton Hall, and the continued encampment on the University’s West Lawn.

“The takeover of Hamilton Hall and the continued encampments raise serious safety concerns for the individuals involved and the entire community,” Baroness Shafik wrote.

“The actions of these individuals are unfortunately escalating. These activities have become a magnet for protesters outside our gates which creates significant risk to our campus and disrupts the ability of the University to continue normal operations.

“The events on campus last night have left us no choice. With the support of the University’s Trustees, I have determined 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 and require the use of emergency authority to protect persons and property.”

She wrote that it was “with the utmost regret” that the university was requesting “help to clear all individuals from Hamilton Hall and all campus encampments”.

“As part of this process, we understand that the NYPD plans to use its LRAD technology to inform participants in the encampments that they must disperse,” the Baroness wrote, referring to Long-Range Acoustic Devices which are ‘sonic weapons’ police use for crowd control.

A new statement from Columbia, just released, says that the university had “no choice” but to call the NYPD to remove protesters after Hamilton Hall was “occupied, vandalised and blockaded”.

Ben Chang, a Columbia spokesman, said: “The leadership team, including the Board of Trustees, met throughout the night and into the early morning, consulting with security experts and law enforcement to determine the best plan to protect our students and the entire Columbia community.

“We made the decision, early in the morning, that this was a law enforcement matter, and that the NYPD were best positioned to determine and execute an appropriate response.”

He added that the protesters had created an “alarming and untenable situation” and that “the decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing”.

“We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law,” he said.

Students have been led away from the campus with their hands bound by zip ties, The New York Times reported.

They have been loaded onto a law enforcement bus outside of the campus and driven away by police.

As they were dragged away, some protesters shouted: “Free Palestine!”

Nikki Haley, the Republican presidential candidate, has called for “law and order” to be restored to campuses after the NYPD swooped on protesters at Columbia.

She said “anyone breaking the law should be arrested”.

The NYPD has entered Hamilton Hall via a second floor window after students locked the front doors and barricaded themselves inside.

Live footage from the scene shows officers breaking into the second floor window using a bridge.

The doors to the front of the building – which protesters say they have renamed in honour of a six-year-old killed in Gaza – have been locked since Tuesday morning.

There are two protests going on at Columbia this evening. One is the student demonstration that has been going on for almost two weeks, and is split between a sit-in at Hamilton Hall and an encampment on the West Lawn.

The other, on Amsterdam Avenue, is between police and members of the public. The student protests have inspired a copycat demonstration outside of the university gates, which non-students are not allowed to cross.

This is a major police operation, and will be scrutinised endlessly by critics of Columbia, who have previously condemned the administration for involving the NYPD.

It’s a stand-off now. A group of perhaps 100 students have been pushed up Amsterdam Avenue by a slow moving wave of police.

The police, designated the crowd-control SRG, stand impassively, their visors down on their helmets, batons in hand.

The chanting continues: “Free Palestine, quit your job! Why are you in riot gear, there is no riot here!”

Another shouts: “Oink, oink, piggie, piggie, we’re going to make your life s---ty.”

Police have now moved us up the street.

Protestors are 100 feet apart. They are attempting to run toward the police line, refusing to move from outside Hamilton Hall.

“Quit your job,” they shout at police. “NYPD, KKK.”

The police are moving up Amsterdam Avenue. A recorded message played by police said: “You are unlawfully obstructing pedestrian traffic. You are ordered to disperse now. If you do so voluntarily, no charges will be placed against you. If you refuse to disperse you will be charged with disorderly conduct.”

As the campus was encircled by New York police, chanting students outside a dark Hamilton Hall said they would not attempt to resist police if they move. “Observe but not engage,” said one.

Another, who had been suspended in the initial camp sweep ten days ago, said she planned to “get out if the way.”

“I can’t afford to be suspended again “, she added.

But most said they had no plan and returned to now familiar chant: “We will not stop, we will not rest, disclose, divest.”

A group of university academics have issued a statement blaming Columbia’s president, a British-American peer, and the university board for the chaos this evening.

Members of the American Association of University Professors issued a statement shortly before 8.30pm Eastern Time, warning that the “NYPD is massing on barricaded streets outside the gates of Columbia University”.

“NYPD presence in our neighbourhood endangers our entire community,” the statement said. “Armed police entering our campus places students and everyone else on campus at risk.

“That is why University statutes require consultation with faculty – statutes which appear to have been ignored since April 17, and again tonight.

“We hold University leadership responsible for the disastrous lapses of judgment that have gotten us to this point. The University President, her senior staff, and the Board of Trustees will bear responsibility for any injuries that may occur during any police action on our campus.”

A student leader was mocked after she claimed that protesters in the Hamilton Hall building needed “humanitarian aid” because they had run out of food less than 24 hours into their sit-in protest.

In an exchange with reporters, the student called on the university to allow food deliveries into the building to support the protesters, pointing out that they had paid for a “meal plan” from the university.

She claimed that the protesters, who have been asked to leave the building, needed “humanitarian aid” including “a glass of water”.

Hundreds of NYPD officers have gathered outside Columbia University before an expected swoop on protesters on the campus.

Here are the latest images from the scene: