NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Officers took protesters into custody late Tuesday after Columbia University called in police to end the pro-Palestinian occupation on the New York campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The scene unfolded shortly after 9 p.m. as police, wearing helmets and carrying zip ties and riot shields, massed at the Ivy League university\u2019s entrance. Officers breached Hamilton Hall, an administration building on campus, to clear out the structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The demonstrators had occupied Hamilton Hall more than 12 hours earlier, spreading their reach from an encampment elsewhere on the grounds that\u2019s been there for nearly two weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A statement released by a Columbia spokesperson late Tuesday said officers arrived on campus after the university requested help. The move came hours after NYPD brass said officers wouldn\u2019t enter Columbia\u2019s campus without the college administration\u2019s request or an imminent emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,\u201d the school\u2019s statement said, adding that school public safety personnel were forced out of the building and one facilities worker was \u201cthreatened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Columbia\u2019s protests earlier this month kicked off demonstrations that now span from California to Massachusetts. As May commencement ceremonies<\/u><\/a> near, administrators face added pressure to clear protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than 1,000 protesters have been arrested over the last two weeks on campuses in states including Texas, Utah, Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico, Connecticut, Louisiana, California and New Jersey, some after confrontations with police in riot gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a letter to senior NYPD officials, Columbia President Minouche Shafik said it was making the request that police remove protesters from the occupied building and a nearby tent encampment \u201cwith the utmost regret.\u201d She also asked that officers remain on campus through May 17, which is after the end of the university\u2019s commencement celebrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWalk away from this situation now and continue your advocacy through other means,\u201d New York City Mayor Eric Adams advised the Columbia protesters on Tuesday afternoon before the police arrived. \u201cThis must end now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The White House earlier Tuesday condemned the standoffs at Columbia and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, where protesters had occupied two buildings until officers with batons intervened overnight and arrested 25 people. Officials estimated the northern California campus\u2019 total damage to be upwards of $1 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Joe Biden believes students occupying an academic building is \u201cabsolutely the wrong approach,\u201d and \u201cnot an example of peaceful protest,\u201d said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other colleges have sought to negotiate agreements with the demonstrators in the hopes of having peaceful commencement ceremonies. As cease-fire negotiations<\/u><\/a> appeared to gain steam, it wasn\u2019t clear whether those talks would inspire an easing of protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Northwestern University notched a rare win when officials said they reached a compromise with students and faculty who represent the majority of protesters on its campus near Chicago to allow peaceful demonstrations through the end of spring classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The nationwide campus protests began at Columbia in response to Israel\u2019s offensive in Gaza after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to stamp out Hamas, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests as antisemitic, while Israel\u2019s critics say it uses those allegations to silence opposition. Although some protesters have been caught on camera making antisemitic remarks or violent threats, organizers of the protests, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Columbia\u2019s campus, protesters locked arms early Tuesday and carried furniture and metal barricades to Hamilton Hall, among several buildings that were occupied<\/u><\/a> during a 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protest. Demonstrators called the building Hind\u2019s Hall, honoring a young girl who was killed in Gaza under Israeli fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The takeover came hours after protesters had shrugged off an earlier ultimatum<\/u><\/a> to abandon a tent encampment Monday or be suspended \u2014 restricted from all academic and recreational spaces, allowed only to enter their residences, and, for seniors, ineligible to graduate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mahmoud Khalil, a lead negotiator before talks with the administration broke down over the weekend, was among the suspended students. His suspension letter \u2014 which he shared with The Associated Press \u2014 said he had refused to leave the encampment after prior warnings, but Khalil said he had abided by the university\u2019s demand to vacate the encampment on the campus lawn by the Monday afternoon deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Columbia spokesperson Ben Chang said in a statement that anyone occupying Hamilton Hall risked being expelled from the university for escalating the protest \u201cto an untenable situation \u2014 vandalizing property, breaking doors and windows, and blockading entrances.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Occupying protesters have insisted they will remain in Hamilton Hall until the university agrees to three demands \u2014 divestment, financial transparency<\/u><\/a> and amnesty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n