International Courant
Greater than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia College have been arrested Thursday afternoon and a tent encampment on campus was eliminated after the college’s president gave New York police the inexperienced mild to launch the demonstrators, officers stated.
Columbia President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik introduced in a letter to the Columbia group Thursday that she has licensed the New York Police Division to take away protesters from campus, writing, “This morning I needed to decide that I hoped would that may by no means be wanted. .”
“I remorse that each one of those efforts to resolve the scenario have been rebuffed by the scholars concerned. Because of this, NYPD officers are actually on campus and the method of clearing the camp is underway,” Shafik stated.
She added, “I’ve all the time stated that the protection of our group was my prime precedence and that we would have liked to keep up an surroundings the place everybody may study in a supportive context.”
Columbia additionally launched a letter to the NYPD authorizing the motion.
Round 1:30 PM ET, police moved in and arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters, inserting their fingers in zip ties and escorting them to buses. Different protesters chanted “Disgrace!” and “Allow them to go.”
Earlier Thursday, Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter stated she was one among a number of college students suspended from Columbia College for taking part in pro-Palestinian protests — a improvement that got here a day after her mom and different members of the Home Committee on Schooling and the Workforce questioned the college’s president about rising anti-Semitism on campus.
Isra Hirsi, the daughter of the Minnesota consultant who’s one among three Muslims in Congress, stated on the social media platform X that she was one among three college students suspended by the Ivy League faculty for her involvement within the protests.
Hirsi, who described herself as an organizer of the Columbia College Apartheid Divest, a coalition of pupil organizations on campuses, stated in a put up on or acquired disciplinary warnings.”
Professional-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators reveal at Columbia College on April 18, 2024.
WABC
“I’ve simply been knowledgeable that I’m 1 of three college students suspended for standing in solidarity with the Palestinians dealing with genocide,” Hirsi wrote in a sequence of posts on X.
In one other put up, she wrote, “these of us within the Gaza Solidarity Camp won’t be intimidated. We’ll stand agency till our calls for are met.”
The Apartheid Divest coalition, in accordance with its web site, calls for that the college “divest its shares, funds and donations from firms that profit from the State of Israel’s violations of worldwide legislation and Palestinian human rights by means of its ongoing system of settler colonialism and navy occupation.” and apartheid.”
Columbia College didn’t instantly reply to ABC Information’ requests for remark.
Protesters against Israel’s struggle in Gaza continued to reveal on campus Thursday, together with some who arrange a tent camp on the South Garden of the Higher Manhattan campus.
Professional-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators reveal at Columbia College on April 18, 2024.
WABC
The demonstrations in Columbia additionally included pro-Israel supporters, who waved Israeli flags and held up indicators that learn: “#Finish Jew Hatred.”
Professional-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators reveal at Columbia College on April 18, 2024.
WABC
As protesters on each side chanted and clinked pots, a U-Haul truck handed by with an indication demanding that Shafik, who was named president of the college in July 2023, step down from her place.
College officers on Wednesday despatched a warning to pupil protesters tenting on campus to go away by 9 p.m. Wednesday or the college would “take the interim measure of suspending you.”
“This discover is a ultimate request from the college to instantly stop your participation on this camp and depart campus,” the college’s letter to protesters stated.
At the least 5 folks have been arrested for disorderly conduct on the college on Wednesday night, in accordance with the NYPD.
On Wednesday, Shafik was questioned for hours by the Home Committee on Schooling and the Workforce about anti-Semitism on the Columbia campus.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chair of the committee, opened the listening to by calling some elite U.S. colleges “hotbeds of anti-Semitism and hate.”
“Columbia College is without doubt one of the worst hotbeds and we’ve seen too little performed, far too late, to cease that and shield college students and employees,” Foxx stated. “Columbia is at greatest responsible of gross negligence and at worst has grow to be a platform for individuals who assist terrorism and violence in opposition to the Jewish folks.”
In her opening assertion, Shafik informed the committee that Columbia “strives to be a group free from discrimination and hatred in all varieties and we condemn the anti-Semitism that’s so prevalent as we speak.”
She stated it’s a “main problem” to reconcile freedom of expression with the rights of Jewish college students to attend college in an surroundings free from discrimination and harassment.
“Sadly, the occasions of October 7 have highlighted an undercurrent of anti-Semitism that poses a big problem and, like many different universities, Columbia has seen a rise in anti-Semitic incidents,” Shafik stated.
In the course of the listening to, Consultant Omar requested Shafik if she had particularly seen anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim demonstrations in Columbia.
In one of many moments the place Shafik appeared to have issue answering members’ questions, Shafik stated she had not seen such a demonstration.
Omar requested: ‘I needed to get clarification, earlier one among my colleagues requested you: have you ever seen anti-Muslim protests on campus?
Shafik responded, “I’ve seen – we have had pro-Israel demonstrations on campus.”
Omar requested once more if Shafik had seen protests in opposition to Muslims, Arabs or Palestinians.
Shafik replied, “No, I have not.”
Omar continued, “Have you ever seen one in opposition to the Jewish folks? Have you ever seen a protest saying we’re in opposition to the Jewish folks?”
Shafik replied, “No.”
