21 HOURS AFTER STUDENTS OCCUPY HAMILTON HALL, PRES. NEMAT SHAFIK SENDS IN SWAT, NYPD TO OCCUPY CAMPUS UNTIL GRADUATION

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Columbia University ended a student occupation of one of its buildings Tuesday night by sending an NYPD SWAT team through a second-story window.

109 students and protesters were arrested both outside the university and inside the building being occupied, Hamilton Hall, the NYPD said Wednesday morning. Around 50 were arrested inside the building, according to a preliminary count.

At least 14 are being charged with felonies, court officials said. Those arrested inside are being charged with felony burglary, criminal mischief and trespassing. Protesters arrested at the camp on the university's quad are generally being charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct. 

Many of the Hamilton Hall occupiers are being put through the system; the rest will be processed at Police Headquarters and given desk appearance tickets.

Columbia's Pres. Nemat Shafik formally asked for the NYPD's  "help to clear all individuals from Hamilton Hall and all campus encampments" shortly after 8:00 pm. "The takeover of Hamilton Hall and the continued encampments raise serious safety concerns for the individuals involved and the entire community."

Knowing police action was imminent, Columbia University officials sent a "shelter in place" order to students and faculty. 

The NYPD moved on the university minutes after 9:00 pm. First they attempted to seal off the area to at least some journalists—including this one. Then they gave an order to disburse to protesters who were rallying on the street outside the occupied building in solidarity with those inside. Minutes later, they began arresting protesters.

NYPD raid on pro-Palestinian protesters used an MRAP with an elevated ramp to lift police officers into a second floor window.. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.

Those arrests went relatively smoothly, for the NYPD. Only one person had to be carried by officers because they refused to walk after being handcuffed.

A press area was designed across Amsterdam Avenue from the occupied building at 116th Street. Mixed in among reporters and television camera crews from all over the world were protesters who did not want to be arrested and neighborhood residents. All together, about 300 to 400 people stood around the intersection.

After the NYPD cleared the streets around Columbia of protesters, the police assault on Hamilton Hall began.

Leading the way was a specialized armored vehicle with a ramp-like staircase built on top of it called the Lenco Bearcat Elevated Tactics vehicle. Instead of entering the building on the ground, an NYPD SWAT team drove the vehicle up to the occupied building, extended the ramp a second story window, and climbed in. 

50 or so police officers entered the building this way—in front of all the cameras. It was not immediately apparent why police felt the need to create what was, in fact, a public spectacle.

Two hours later, an additional 173 protesters were arrested at CUNY's flagship Harlem Campus, as the NYPD cleared the protest camp established there last Thursday, Apr. 25. 

“Over the past six days, a series of violent incidents occurred at CCNY that put public safety at risk," a CUNY news release said on Wednesday. Tuesday evening, a swelling crowd of additional protesters arrived and alarmed officials.

"CCNY leadership made the difficult decision to request NYPD assistance" just before midnight," they said.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams blamed unnamed "outside agitators" for the aggressive police action and all the arrests.

"There is a movement to radicalize young people and I'm not going to wait until it's done," Adams said at a news conference at NYPD headquarters Wednesday morning. "Our young people are being influenced by those who are professionals at radicalizing our children and I'm not going to allow that to happen."

But last week protesters at the CUNY camp published a pamphlet explaining their movement and specifically rejecting any distinction between students and alleged "outside agitators."

The pamphlet is called "To Them, We're All Outside Agitators."

"What these brave students have shown the world is that there are no allies within enemy institutions, no more appeals to be made, and certainly no more negotiating the terms of our existence and resistance," the rebels wrote. "There is only an enemy to fight and a struggle that seeks victory."

In effect, it was a declaration of war against an education and legal system that was so hopelessly set to support Israel over the Palestinians it cannot be reformed. It can only be destroyed.

That system answered their declaration with an overwhelming demonstration of police force Tuesday night.

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