Pro-Palestine Activists Chain Themselves to Columbia University’s Main Gate

Katya Yindra

On Monday afternoon (04/21), over a dozen anti-Zionist Jewish activists chained themselves to Columbia University’s main gates on Amsterdam Avenue. This action marks an escalation from students’ previous demonstration on April 2, where they chained themselves to a gate the university had kept locked and unusable since last spring. When the action began, the university quickly shut off access to the east and south sides of campus. Students were forced to exit through the west side gates and walk around the perimeter to reach the other side.

Despite the school’s efforts to minimize visibility, the demonstration quickly drew a crowd of supporters who chanted, sang, and waved banners, while NYPD officers and campus security paced the perimeter.

The activists zip-tied a banner to the gates reading “Our Demands: 1. Free Mahmoud and Mohsen! 2. Disclose 3. Sanctuary Campus 4. Open the Gates”. They also tied laminated cards bearing the names and ages of Palestinian martyrs, each with a short biography on the backs, honoring those killed under occupation.

“I’m a Jewish student on Columbia’s campus and I’ve never felt more threatened than by the presence of police that they call here,” said one student speaker, addressing the crowd. “They rule by fear… They think there is a level of institutional crackdown that will make the students give up. They think there’s a level of repression that they can enact that will make us too scared to speak out. But we are here to promise that we are not going away. There is no end to the student movement, and there is no end to Palestine.”

One of the chained students explained his motivation to participate to a volunteer with The Worker: “For me it was Mahmoud and Mohsen. Mohsen is a friend of mine.” He condemned Columbia’s collaboration with law enforcement and its silence on the recent detentions.

Eventually, Columbia’s so-called “public safety” officers arrived with bolt cutters. Though the chains were severed, the protesters remained seated in defiance. Meanwhile, NYPD officers began setting up barricades along the sidewalk and street in response to the growing crowd.

As public safety officers began removing the chains, the crowd erupted in chants of “Who do you serve? Who do you protect?” One chained protester shouted, “Why didn’t you protect Mahmoud Khalil? Why didn’t you protect Mohsen Mahdawi?”

After several hours, one student was arrested for allegedly trying to set up a tent. The students remained in place until around 6pm that evening.

The action comes amid heightened tension on campus following threats of student deportation, ICE detainment, and intensifying Israeli genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.

Photo: Activists chain themselves to Columbia University’s main gate on Amsterdam Ave.

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