Columbia University resorts to police crackdown again to end campus protests

Columbia University called in a large number of police officers again on Tuesday in a bid to end pro-Palestine protests on campus.

The arrest of nearly 100 protesters on Tuesday night was the second of its kind within two weeks.

Students had been protesting in "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" on the West Lawn of Columbia University's Morningside Campus and negotiating with administrators on divesting from companies that "profit from Israeli apartheid."

They also demanded complete transparency on the university's financial investments as well as amnesty for all students and faculty disciplined or fired in the protests.

The negotiations made some progress on Friday, with Barnard College with Columbia University reaching a resolution with most of the 53 students arrested and suspended amid the arrests on April 18.

However, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik said on Tuesday that the talks between Columbia University's administrators and student protesters reached an impasse on Sunday.

Columbia University at first set a deadline for student protesters to give up the encampment on Monday afternoon, but the students largely remained unmoved.

As pressures heated up, students chose to occupy the Hamilton Hall in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Cornered by the escalation of tensions, Columbia University tightened access to the Morningside campus and once again called in police to remove protesters from Hamilton Hall and encampment on the campus.

Notably, Shafik labeled the situation on the campus as "unrest" in her letter to the New York Police Department (NYPD) on Tuesday, accusing protesters of vandalizing property in Hamilton Hall.

Ironically, the university's administration said "there is no truth to claims of an impending lockdown or evictions on campus" on Saturday when the talks were still going on.

The NYPD arrested nearly 100 protesters and loaded them onto correctional buses. The encampment had been dismantled and partially cleaned until midnight.

With no people injured in the operation, individuals inside Hamilton Hall could be charged with burglary in the third degree and criminal mischief, while those in encampment on campus grounds could be charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct, according to police officers.

Shafik faces pressure from all sides and was urged to resign by US House Speaker Mike Johnson days ago. She was also grilled at a hearing by a congressional committee about anti-semitism on campus on April 17 and the White House Tuesday condemned the use of the term 'intifada,' saying forcibly taking over buildings is wrong.

Twenty-one Congressional Democrats sent a letter to the board of trustees of Columbia University on Monday, expressing their disappointment for not disbanding the encampment and urging the university to take action "now."

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD officer, urged the end of the standoff in Columbia University shortly before the NYPD officers entered the campus.

The ongoing protests on dozens of US university campuses proved to be highly divisive with the left and right wings arguing whether there are rampant anti-semitism behaviors.

As the semester is winding up, administrators of Columbia University are struggling to ensure students participate in exams and attend commencement.

Students would continue to protest on the campus even after the brutality against them, according to Mahmoud Khalil, a lead student negotiator from Columbia University.