Pro-Palestine protesters at Columbia University in New York City forced their way into a campus administrative building before dawn on Tuesday, smashing in doors and windows in a demonstration against the Israel-Hamas war. The protesters are now occupying Hamilton Hall and refusing to stand down as the school begins suspending students who refused to leave a nearby encampment by the Monday afternoon deadline.
Cell phone video taken on campus shows a mob of masked protesters storming Hamilton Hall just after 1 a.m., using furniture and metal barricades to block off the building once inside. Several demonstrators used hammers to smash through the hall’s glass-paneled doors, then placed bike locks and zip ties around the handles to seal the entrances.
NEW: Pro-Palestine protesters have seized Hamilton Hall at Columbia University and barricaded themselves inside.
The move came just hours after the school began suspending students over the protests.
The protesters draped a banner after taking over the building that read… pic.twitter.com/6kG4wq1K3v
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 30, 2024
Once the building had been “liberated,” protesters standing arm-in-arm outside unfurled “Free Palestine” and “Intifada” (Arabic for “uprising”) banners and hung them from the roof.
🚨BREAKING: Columbia University students form a human chain to protect the protestors who have occupied Hamilton Hall – which has now been renamed HIND’S HALL. 🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/Z41sdxwv20
— CU Apartheid Divest (@ColumbiaBDS) April 30, 2024
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A statement from Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), the student-led pro-Palestine umbrella group responsible for the protest, declared that the building, named after Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, had been renamed “Hind Hall” in commemoration of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Gazan girl killed by Israeli military action.
“After 206 days of genocide and over 34,000 Palestinian martyrs, Columbia community members took back Hamilton Hall just after midnight,” the group wrote.
CUAD further stated that this “escalation” follows the precedent set by other student protesters who have occupied the same building throughout the years, namely the violent anti-Vietnam War protests in 1968 and a mass student strike calling for divestment from apartheid-era South Africa in 1985.
“Protesters have voiced their intention to remain at Hind’s Hall until Columbia concedes to CUAD’s three demands: divestment [from Israel], financial transparency, and amnesty,” the statement continued.
‼️ OFFICIAL CUAD PRESS RELEASE: Occupation of Hamilton Hall pic.twitter.com/VHpyjtjPjU
— CU Apartheid Divest (@ColumbiaBDS) April 30, 2024
Related: George Soros is Funding the Anti-Israel Campus Protests
The takeover of Hamilton Hall came just under 12 hours after the university’s deadline for students to abandon the makeshift tent city set up on campus last week. Columbia administration had previously warned that any students still present in the encampment after 2 p.m. on Monday would face suspension. By 4 p.m., the group of roughly 120 students had dwindled to just over 80, but no significant police presence was reported to enforce the deadline.
Protesters have since told reporters that they will “not be moved unless by force.”
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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