New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Wednesday that police had to move in to Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall “for the safety of those children.”
He blamed outside agitators for the building takeover.
“There are people who are harmful and they’re trying to radicalize our children and we cannot ignore this,” Adams said.
The NYPD’s deputy commissioner for public information, Tarik Sheppard, who appeared with the mayor, held up a heavy chain.
“This is not what students bring to school," Sheppard said. "This is what we encountered on every door inside Hamilton Hall.”
Sheppard said 40 to 50 people were arrested at Hamilton Hall with no injuries. Adams said they will face charges including burglary, trespassing and criminal mischief, while those who were arrested outside the building will be face less serious charges.
Currently:
— Police clear pro-Palestinian protesters from Columbia University while clashes break out at UCLA
— Student protesters reach a deal with Northwestern University that sparks criticism from all sides
— Trump’s comparison of student protests to Jan. 6 is part of effort to downplay Capitol attack
Here's the latest:
Six people have been arrested and suspensions have been issued to seven students who participated in demonstrations at Tulane University, the school in New Orleans said in a message to the university community early Wednesday. One more suspension was pending, officials said.
The university was also looking into reports of university employees participating in the demonstration.
“We value free speech and have supported numerous lawful demonstrations throughout this year,” the university said in the statement. “But we remain opposed to trespassing, hate speech, antisemitism and bias against religious or ethnic groups.”
Four buildings on campus would remain closed Wednesday as the demonstration continued, with classes scheduled in those buildings going remote, officials said.
When several dozen protesters camped in about a dozen small tents on a grassy area near an administration building Monday, police “moved in immediately to attempt to stop the encampment,” the administration said Tuesday. There were arrests and students were suspended after a confrontation with police Monday and the Students for a Democratic Society organization also was suspended, the university said.
Dueling groups of protesters clashed Wednesday at the University of California, Los Angeles, grappling in fistfights and shoving, kicking and using sticks to beat one another.
Hours earlier, police carrying riot shields burst into a building at Columbia University that pro-Palestinian protesters took over and broke up a demonstration that had paralyzed the school while inspiring others.
After a couple of hours of scuffles between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators at UCLA, police wearing helmets and face shields formed lines and slowly separated the groups. That appeared to quell the violence.
Police have swept through campuses across the U.S. over the last two weeks in response to protests calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support the war in Gaza. There have been confrontations and more than 1,000 arrests. In rarer instances, university officials and protest leaders struck agreements to restrict the disruption to campus life and upcoming commencement ceremonies.
