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New York Police Department officers detain dozens of pro-Palestinian students at Columbia University after they barricaded themselves at the Hamilton Hall building near Gaza Solidarity Encampment earlier in New York, United States on April 30, 2024. (Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The arrests at Columbia University have divided New York Democrats, with some expressing outrage and others calling the protests violent and unlawful.
"If any kid is hurt tonight, responsibility will fall on the mayor and univ presidents," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted on X shortly after New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that police would intervene to end the occupation of Hamilton Hall.
"Other leaders and schools have found a safe, de-escalatory path. This is the opposite of leadership and endangers public safety. A nightmare in the making," she said. "I urge the Mayor to reverse course."
After the police made dozens of arrests at Hamilton Hall, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., expressed outrage at the number of officers called to deal with "nonviolent" protesters.
"I am outraged by the level of police presence called upon nonviolent student protestors on Columbia and CCNY’s campuses. As an educator who has first hand experience with the over-policing of our schools, this is personal to me," Bowman posted on X.
But fellow Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres, whose district encompasses Columbia University, had a different take.
"No one has a First Amendment right to erect illegal encampments, blockade entrances, vandalize property, break windows and doors, block students from accessing campus, hold people hostage, and harass and intimidate 'Zionists' (i.e. most Jews)," Torres posted.
"These are not activities protected by the First Amendment. These are crimes punishable by law."
New York City Police Department officers tore down a Palestinian flag at City College of New York Wednesday morning and replaced it with an American flag after regaining control of campus following anti-Israel protests. (X/@NYPDDaughtry / Screenshot)
Officers with the New York City Police Department restored the American flag on the City College of New York campus after it was replaced with a Palestinian flag by anti-Israel agitators during a protest.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry applauded the move on X, formerly Twitter, at around 12:39 a.m. Wednesday – not long after officers gained control of the campus.
"An incredible scene and proud moment as we have assisted @CityCollegeNY in restoring order on campus, culminating in raising Old Glory once again on their campus flagpole," Daughtry wrote on X.
It's unclear when the Palestinian flag was raised on the campus' flagpole, but Within Our Lifetime Palestine, a pro-Palestinian account on X, posted a video of it flying in place of the American flag at 8:59 p.m. Tuesday.
In similar fashion to nearby Columbia University, CCNY had been experiencing days of anti-Israel protests on campus as agitators called for the university to divest from Israel and for a cease-fire in Gaza, among other things.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams at City Hall, Blue Room, during his weekly in-person Press Conference on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
New York City Mayor Eric Adams thanked police for their efforts to stop the protest at Columbia University and warned of a global "movement to radicalize young people" in remarks Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference, Adams confirmed that about 300 people were arrested at Columbia and the City College of New York overnight. He emphasized that outside agitators infiltrated student protests and that police were brought in after peaceful protest transformed into "a place where antisemitism and anti-Israel attitudes were pervasive."
"I know that there are those who are attempting to say that the majority of people may have been students, you don't have to be the majority to influence and co-opt an operation. That is what this is about," Adams said.
"We're going to protect our city from those who are attempting to do what is happening globally," the mayor added. "There is a movement to radicalize young people, and I'm not going to wait until it's done and all of a sudden acknowledge the existence of it. This is a global problem that young people are being influenced by those who are professionals at radicalizing our children. And I'm not going to allow that to happen as the mayor of the city of New York."
Approximately 300 individuals were arrested by New York City police overnight Tuesday into early Wednesday between protests at Columbia University and the City College of New York.
NYPD sources tell Fox News that about 230 protesters were taken into custody at Columbia University and of that number between 40-50 were arrested in connection to the occupation of Hamilton Hall. The remaining protesters were arrested at City College.
A statement released by a Columbia spokesperson said officers entered the campus after the university requested help. A tent encampment on the school’s grounds began nearly two weeks ago to protest the Israel-Hamas war.
“After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” the school said. “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.”
Fox News' CB Cotton and the Associated Press contributed to this update.
The Los Angeles Police Department is now on the scene at the University of California, Los Angeles, but for hours before they arrived the scene was a battlefield.
Pro-Israel counter-protesters went to the university overnight to confront the anti-Israel protesters who set up an encampment on campus. Fighting broke out and continued for hours before Mayor Karen Bass sent police to the school to break it up.
Video provided by FOX affiliate KTTV shows scenes from the brawl, which lasted about three hours before police intervened. People threw firecrackers, there was pepper spray witnessed and observers described the scene as one of complete chaos.
Officials have not yet released any numbers of injuries or arrests linked to the late-night violence, KTTV reported.
UCLA's Strategic Communications office released a statement on the violence:
"Horrific acts of violence occurred at the encampment tonight and we immediately called law enforcement for mutual aid support. The fire department and medical personnel are on the scene. We are sickened by this senseless violence and it must end."
Less than a week after the police response to Emory's anti-Israel encampment set off an uproar, things were calm on the elite university's Atlanta campus on Monday. But passions still ran high among students who continued to chant against Israel and demanded the college president's resignation.
Fox News Digital spoke to several students who were present at Monday's gathering, on everything to why they don't view anti-Zionism as antisemitic, to how they feel about the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, to whether they can support President Biden in November. Dozens of others declined interview requests and opportunities to elaborate on their views.
Anti-Israel voices are often highly sensitive about what they view as the improper conflation of anti-Zionism and antisemitism, while groups like the Anti-Defamation League view anti-Zionism as antisemitic for invoking anti-Jewish tropes.
"Zionism is the movement of creating a Jewish homeland," Ibrahim, a junior at Emory, said. "It's escalated into a very violent, violent movement."
An Emory senior, Emmitt, said Zionism was at the "root of antisemitism."
"They want the genocide to stop, but they don't want any violence inflicted on Jewish people," he said of the movement.
Campus unrest across the country has been prompted by Israel's current war on Hamas in Gaza, which in turn was in direct response to the Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state. Hamas terrorists killed nearly 1,200 people, committed sexual assaults and took hundreds of hostages.
Asked whether they condemned the Oct. 7 attack, students at the protest who spoke to Fox News Digital tended to equivocate rather than outright condemn it.
"Any sort of attack on civilians is very horrendous and sad, but I think that the issue of October 7 has become such – It's brought up over and over again," Ibrahim said. "But what about October 8? What about October 9? What about October 6? What about every single day since 1948 where Palestinians have been continuously killed and oppressed? Israel got attacked on that day, and obviously that's very sad for the civilians that were involved, but where's the outcry for the Palestinian civilians that have been attacked every single day?"
"All of a sudden, when this happens to White people, it's an international crisis, and there's international outrage, when it's been happening to Palestinians every single day for 75 years," he added. "So I'm not saying that what happened wasn't terrible, but that's happened to Palestinians every single day, and the double standard is very, very clear."
Fox News Digital's David Rutz contributed to this update.
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