On 18th April, New York Police Department(NYPD) Officers in riot vests arrested nearly 113 anti-Israel and Pro Palestinian supporters and students from Columbia University in New York, US after students kept on occupying some of the university grounds for protesting.
Nemat Shafik, the President of Columbia University called on the police to arrest the students and take down their camps after the activists showed few signs of slowing down the momentum.
After the arrest, there were piles of blankets and food along with water bottles lying around since many students resided there for many nights while others joined them on the day of the arrest.
Why Did Nemat Shafik requested Help from NYPD
Nemat Shafik has previously emailed staff, faculty, and students that she is going to request the NYPD to help them even though in her mind she thought it was not necessary.
She stated that ‘I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances. The individuals who established the encampment violated a long list of rules and policies.’
The President further stated that ‘We also tried through a number of channels to engage with their concerns and offered to continue discussions if they agreed to disperse. I regret that all of these attempts to resolve the situation were rejected by the students involved.’
Nemat Shafik later thanked the NYPD department and the officers for using LRAD(Long-Range Acoustic Device) technology to inform the participants must stop their protesting or severe actions will be taken.
Nemat Shafik on the Congressional Hearing
Among the arrested Pro-Palestinians one of them was Isra Hirsi, the daughter of representative Ilhan Omar from Minnesota who posted on his official X page that she was one of the students who were suspended from Barnard College.
On 17th April, US representative Ilhan Omar criticised Nemat Shafik during a congressional hearing regarding on the topic anti-semitism where she stated that ‘There has been a rise in targeting and harassment against antiwar protesters.’
Shafik replied that ‘Antisemitism has no place on our campus, and I am personally committed to doing everything I can to confront it directly.’
She further stated that ‘Trying to reconcile the free speech rights of those who want to protest and the rights of Jewish students to be in an environment free of discrimination and harassment has been the central challenge on our campus and numerous others across the country.’
University Students Thoughts On This Protest
Though many students from the Columbia University supported the Pro Palestinian movement outside the college, there were some students who went against it.
A 20 year-old anonymous student from Columbia Univeristy stated that ‘I applaud the cops. They are doing the right thing.’
He further stated that ‘We don’t feel safe. We fear for our lives. Remember who started this? Hamas, that terrorist group. We pay a lot of money to come here and we should feel safe and protected.’
While Ilhan Cohen, a Jewish student at the Univeristy stated that ‘The idea that censorship, repression, silencing, firing are occurring on our campus in the name of my safety doesn’t make me safe. It alienates me. If anything. I’m part of a growing group of young American Jews who are horrified and the actions of today solidified that beyond belief.’
Maryam Alwan, a Palestinian American and lead organizer of Columbia University’s Students for Justice stated that ‘ have never had such a communal experience in my entire life. They’re losing control because we’ve been watching a genocide unfold on our screens every single day and they have ignored every Democratic means by which we have tried to make our voices heard.’
Further, a user compared such protests to ‘Azaadi’ (Freedom!) calls in Indian University of JNU in 2016, led by now Congress contestant Kanhaiya Kumar.
Azaadi slogans in Columbia University.
Copy paste of the JNU protests in India.
These people just hate everyone!
— Harish Mali (@HarishMali06) April 20, 2024
JNU comrades ki ‘azadi’ wali nautanki ab American universities mein bhi..
Ab tum log bhi jhelo inko😂pic.twitter.com/PCzg0FcWAj
— Keh Ke Peheno (@coolfunnytshirt) April 20, 2024
Columbia University Officials On The Arrest
A representative for the Columbia University stated that ‘the students who participated in the encampment are suspended but did not provide an exact number. We are continuing to identify them and will be sending out formal notifications.’
The representative further stated that ‘We have rules regarding the time, place and manner that apply to protest activity and we will continue to enforce those,” the spokesperson said. While the tents are no longer set up, protesters appear to still have plans to sleep on the lawn. A large pile of blankets and sleeping bags sit on a blue tarp.’
State Officials on the Arrest of the Palestinian Protesters in Columbia University
Eric Adams, the Mayor of the New York City stated that ‘Students have a right to free speech. They do not have a right to violate university policies and disrupt learning on campus.’
He further stated that ‘I know the conflict in the Middle East has left many of us grieving and angry. This is a painful moment for our city, for our country and for the globe. New Yorkers have every right to express their sorrow. But that heartbreak does not give you the right to harass others to spread hate.’
While the John Chewell, the chief of NYPD(New York Police Department) stated that ‘The students that were arrested were peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever and were saying what they wanted to say in a peaceful manner.’
While Congressman Jamaal Bowman stated that ‘Bringing in the NYPD to arrest students demonstrating for peace leads us down a very, very dark path.’
The Precedent
It is not the first that it has happened at Columbia University. It also happened in 1968 when the students protested during anti-war protests against Vietnam and the university officials decided to call the cops to arrest them. The protest was done by Students for a Democratic Society(SDS) and Students Afro-Society.
