Dozens of Pro-Palestinian Protesters Storm Columbia University—What To Know

Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested after occupying part of Columbia University's main library in New York on Wednesday.

Videos shared on social media show a long line of New York Police Department officers entering the library hours after the protesters pushed their way past campus security officials and hung Palestinian flags on bookshelves in a reading room.

"At the direct request of Columbia University, the NYPD responded to an ongoing situation on campus where individuals have occupied a library and are trespassing," an NYPD spokesperson told Newsweek. "Multiple individuals who did not comply with verbal warnings by the NYPD to disperse were taken into custody."

At least 80 people were taken into custody, according to The Associated Press.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a pro-Palestinian student group, said in a post online that it had occupied part of Butler Library to "show that as long as Columbia funds and profits from imperialist violence, the people will continue to disrupt Columbia's profits and legitimacy."

Why It Matters

The Trump administration has cracked down on international students and scholars at several universities who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year and criticized Israel over its military action in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, which killed some 1,200 people and saw about 250 people taken hostage. Israel has resumed its offensive after a temporary ceasefire earlier this year, and it has so far killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, the AP reported, citing Palestinian health officials.

The administration is also targeting universities over their handling of last year's student protests, saying that some schools did not do enough to squash antisemitism on campus. Columbia in March announced sweeping policy changes related to protests following the Trump administration's threats to revoke its federal funding, including a ban on students wearing masks to conceal their identities and a rule that those protesting on campus must present their identification when asked.

What To Know

CUAD said in a Substack post that more than 100 people "flooded Butler Library and renamed it the Basel Al-Araj Popular University."

The group said that some students had been "choked" and "beaten" by public safety officers on campus.

The group said: "Repression breeds resistance—if Columbia escalates repression, the people will continue to escalate disruptions on this campus."

Among their demands were that the university divest from "Zionist occupation, apartheid and genocide," remove officers and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from campus and provide amnesty for students, staff, faculty and workers facing disciplinary action.

Columbia's Acting President Claire Shipman said the protesters holed up inside a library reading room had been asked repeatedly to show identification and to leave, but they refused.

The school then took "the necessary step of requesting the presence of NYPD to assist in securing the building and the safety of our community," she said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

Shipman said two university public safety officers sustained injuries as protesters forced their way into the building. "These actions are outrageous," she said.

What People Are Saying

Shipman said: "Individuals participating in the Reading Room 301 disruption were repeatedly asked for identification and to leave, and were repeatedly told that failure to comply would result in violations of our rules and policies and possible arrest for trespassing. We have been clear from the outset about applying our protocols and advising participants of the potential consequences of not complying. Requesting the presence of the NYPD is not the outcome we wanted, but it was absolutely necessary to secure the safety of our community."

Columbia University Apartheid Divest shared a message from students inside the library on X: "We are facing one of the largest militarized police forces in the world. Deputized Public Safety officers have choked and beaten us, but we have not wavered. We refuse to show our IDs under militarized arrest. We refuse to go down quietly. We will not be useless intellectuals. Palestine is our compass, and we stand strong in the face of violent repression."

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, wrote on X that officers were "entering the campus to remove individuals who are trespassing. We will not tolerate hate or violence in any form in our city."

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, wrote on X: "Everyone has the right to peacefully protest. But violence, vandalism or destruction of property are completely unacceptable."

What's Next

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday night that he's "reviewing the visa status" of the pro-Palestinian protesters who took part in the demonstration.