by Farrukh Abadi
On Tuesday night, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik authorized the NYPD to clear out the building that pro-Palestine students had taken over the night before. Hamilton Hall, renamed by student occupiers Hind’s Hall. The building, renamed after the 6-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab executed by the IDF earlier this year, was surrounded by hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters as riot police blocked off and cleared the streets and campus.
At 8:20pm, the university issued a shelter-in-place order in an email to all affiliates, adding that “Non-compliance may result in disciplinary action. Avoid the area until further notice.”
Shortly afterward, riot police descended on campus and surrounded Hind’s Hall. Police used a heavily armored SWAT vehicle with an extending ladder, known as a BearCat, to break through the windows several stories high while protesters on the ground continued to chant against the police and in solidarity with Palestine. On the other side of the building, officers inside campus attacked protesters blocking the entrance to the building. On at least one occasion, police threw a protester down a set of stairs.
Inside the building, police used flashbang grenades and broke down doors with drawn guns.
Over 100 protesters were arrested. Police also dismantled the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, which had remained in the South Lawn for two weeks. Police did not allow media within the campus, with the local Students for Justice in Palestine chapter saying this was to allow the police to brutalize students out of sight.
The police assault on the students comes exactly 56 years ago to the day of the mass arrest of anti-war and anti-segregation students during the 1968 student uprising at Columbia. At the time, the police arrested over 700 students and injured over 100, sending many to the hospital as they violently cleared out multiple buildings students had taken over.
On Wednesday, President Shafik released an email stating that the events have filled her “with deep sadness.” This is the second time Shafik has called in the riot police on her students within two weeks despite the student and faculty senate unanimously voting against the deployment of the police.
The same day, student organizers released a May Day statement reaffirming their commitment to the struggle, stating: “Our people arrested today will soon be free and ready to fight again with even greater insight into the oppressor’s tools and weaknesses…. From the belly of the beast, we proudly state that we are calm, we are unafraid, and we are strong. Tomorrow is ours, and victory is nearer than we imagine.”
At night, over a hundred protesters chanted outside of Hind’s Hall and slogans such as “Hind’s Hall Forever” and “Escalate for Gaza” were projected onto the building.
photo: SWAT prepares to breach into Hind’s Hall with handguns drawn
