Dozens of #students arrested in pro-#Palestinian #protest at #ColumbiaUniversity

#Police #arrested dozens of #Columbia students who seized part of the school's main library on Wednesday in one of the biggest pro-Palestinian #demonstrations on campus since last year's wave of protests against #Israel's #war in #Gaza.

#democracy #dissent #law #Constitution #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #RightToProtest
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/dozens-pro-palestinian-protesters-occupy-columbia-university-library-2025-05-07/

Videos & photos on social media showed #protesters, most wearing masks [given the givens, wouldn’t you?], standing on tables, beating drums & unfurling banners saying "Strike For Gaza" & "Liberated Zone" beneath the chandeliers of the Lawrence A. Wein Reading Room.

#Trump had lashed out at #Columbia over pro-#Palestinian #protests on campus last year, saying they were *#antisemitic* & showed a failure to protect Jewish students.

#law #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #Israel #Gaza

#Student #protesters, including many #Jewish organizers, counter that #Trump & *conservative* politicians who are strongly pro-#Israel are unfairly conflating pro-#Palestinian #protests & #antisemitism. [yup]

#Columbia's board of trustees has been *negotiating* w/the Trump admin, which announced in March that it had canceled hundreds of millions in #grants to the #university for #scientific #research.

#law #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #Palestinians #Israel #Gaza #war

The #university has said it has worked to combat #antisemitism & other #prejudice on its campus while seeking to fend off accusations from #CivilRights groups that it was giving in to #Trump government intrusions on #AcademicFreedom.

#Columbia #University said late on Wed that it had requested #NYPD assistance "in securing the building," & that 2 of its public safety ofcls were hurt in the standoff.

#law #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #Palestinians #Israel #Gaza #war

@Nonilex

Palestinians are Semitic People too.

#Gazagenocide

An #NYPD spox confirmed "multiple arrests" of #protesters who occupied the library but did not provide an exact number.

Before police arrived, #Columbia #University public safety personnel were seen locking the front doors to the library, preventing any more #students from entering the building & sparking a brief episode of pushing & shoving outside.

One student appeared to have been injured in the fracas. Another individual was seen being carried out of the bldg on a stretcher.

#law

With further entry to the library barred, a growing crowd of #demonstrators outside the building moved to the streets just beyond the campus gates.

One #student org representing the #protesters said on social media that school security had assaulted demonstrators & acknowledged that some activists had refused to show their IDs to ofcls.

#democracy #dissent #law #Constitution #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #RightToProtest #ColumbiaUniversity #Palestinians #Israel #Gaza #war

#Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a collection of #student groups, recirculated long-standing demands on social media on Wednesday for the #university to no longer invest its $14.8B #endowment in #weapons makers & other companies that support #Israel's #military #occupation of #Palestinian territories.

On Monday, pro-Palestinian #protesters occupied a University of #Washington bldg, demanding the school cut ties w/ #Boeing over its contracts w/the #IDF.

#democracy #law #FirstAmendment

The #university said 34 #protesters were #arrested, & charges of trespassing, property destruction & disorderly conduct were referred to prosecutors.

On Wed, it said the 21 #students who were among those arrested have been #suspended & #banned from all of the school's campuses.

#Columbia was at the forefront of a pro-#Palestinian & anti-war student #protest movement that swept across US campuses last year over #Israel's war in #Gaza, which began in 2023.

#law #Constitution #FirstAmendment

#Trump, a [purely self-interested] #Republican, is also trying to #deport some pro-Palestinian #international #students at #US #schools, saying their presence could *harm* US #ForeignPolicy interests [utter crap].

The #protesters in the library also demanded the release of #MahmoudKhalil, a #Palestinian activist & #Columbia graduate student who remains in a Louisiana immigrant #jail after he was among the first to be #arrested for #deportation.

#immigration #law #FirstAmendment #RightToProtest

@Nonilex

how much is #netanyahu paying trump?

@Nonilex The “Land of the free” isn’t anymore, is it?