Police arrest dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia

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NEW YORK — Fresh York police got rid of a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at Columbia College on Thursday and arrested greater than 100 demonstrators, together with the daughter of a important Minnesota congresswoman.

A number of scholars concerned within the protest stated in addition they have been suspended from Columbia and Barnard School, together with Isra Hirsi, who’s the daughter of Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar.

Omar had wondered Columbia’s president, Nemat Shafik, at a listening to Wednesday in Congress concerning the faculty’s focused on of pro-Palestinian protesters.

Police stated 108 nation, together with Hirsi, have been charged with trespassing on the non-public Ivy League establishment. Two nation have been additionally charged with obstructing govt management.

Fresh York Mayor Eric Adams stated the town was once requested in writing via college officers to take away the encampment.

“Students have a right to free speech, but do not have a right to violate university policies and disrupt learning on campus,” Adams stated.

The scholars have been protesting on campus since early Wednesday, opposing Israeli army motion in Gaza and critical the college divest from corporations they declare “profit from Israeli apartheid.”

Shafik issued a commentary announcing the college had warned protesters on Wednesday that they’d be suspended if the encampment was once now not got rid of. Faculty officers made the verdict Thursday to name in police and unclouded out the demonstrators, she stated.

“The individuals who established the encampment violated a long list of rules and policies,” she wrote.

Shafik additionally stated the college attempted thru a number of channels “to engage with their concerns and offered to continue discussions if they agreed to disperse.”

The college stated it was once nonetheless figuring out scholars concerned within the protest Thursday and added extra suspensions could be imminent.