by Farrukh Abadi
Pro-Palestine student demonstrators took over university buildings in the east and west coast late Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
At Columbia, students occupied Hamilton Hall, a building occupied by student demonstrators both in 1968 during the student uprisings against the Vietnam War and segregation and in 1985, as part of the South African anti-apartheid movement. Pro-Palestine students renamed it Hind Hall, after the 6-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab who was executed in Gaza City by Israeli forces in late January.
The building takeover at Columbia comes after the university administration set a 2pm deadline on Monday for the Gaza Solidarity Encampment to be cleared with the threat that all students remaining inside would face suspension or expulsion. Hundreds of students and faculty formed a picket around the encampment as several dozen remained inside. Later that night, students marched to Hamilton Hall and took it over, barricading the doors to prevent police access.
The university has closed off all access to campus except for workers and students in the dorms already on campus, essentially enforcing a state of siege on the protesters. They have also announced the expulsion of all students in the occupied building.
The White House has said that the student occupation is “absolutely the wrong approach” and “is not an example of peaceful protest.” Meanwhile, various state governors and city officials, often at the request of university administrators, have deployed riot police to attack and arrest protesters over the last week.
At Portland State University, pro-Palestine protesters took over the library Monday night following a statement from the school demanding that the students evacuate their encampment. The administration also announced a campus shutdown.
At Cal Poly Humboldt, police arrested 25 students early Tuesday morning, ending the building occupation that had gone on for over a week. The occupation of the administrative building, which began on April 22 and spread to another building, had successfully defended itself from a police incursion early on.
Across the country, more than 1,100 students have been arrested as the encampments have spread to over 40 campuses in the US and internationally, with new encampments recently established at two prestigious universities in Paris.
photo: Students begin the occupation of Hamilton Hall, renamed Hind’s Hall, Monday night, @jessicaschwalb7 social media
