56 Years After ‘Bloody, Brutal’ Cop Raid at Columbia University, Cops Raid Students’ Pro-Palestine Encampment
"Columbia is a far different place today than it was in the spring of 1968 when protesters took over University buildings," reads a page on the university's website. Tuesday night's raid proves otherwise.
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On April 30, 1968, the front page of the Columbia Daily Spectator read: “University Calls in 1,000 Police To End Demonstrations As Nearly 700 Are Arrested And 100 Injured; Violent Solution Follows Failure To Negotiate.” At the time, scores of student demonstrators had flooded campus common areas and overtaken university buildings to protest the Vietnam War. The student newspaper called the April 30 raid a “bloody, brutal show of strength” on the part of police. On Tuesday—exactly 56 years to the day of that report—cops raided the campus again. This time to arrest students protesting the war and ongoing genocide in Gaza.
On Tuesday night, a fleet of NYPD officers in riot gear descended on Columbia University to clear out the student encampment and arrest over 100 student protesters. Many of them were inside Hamilton Hall, which had been overtaken by students and renamed “Hind Hall” for Hind Rajab, the six-year-old girl who was reportedly murdered by Israeli soldiers in Gaza in February, per multiple reports. Student protesters took over the same academic building in 1968.
A number of campus groups in support of Palestinian liberation like Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine claim the Tuesday night arrests were violent, with some students sustaining injuries like “swollen faces” and “lacerations” from being kicked and tackled to the ground by authorities. On Twitter, at least one protestor who was arrested described being “thrown onto the ground and pinned down by 6-7 cops.” Photos and videos, too, show an overwhelming crush of cops surrounding the university sometime after 9 p.m.
The university has since confirmed it personally requested NYPD’s presence via a letter from university president, Minouche Shafik. In a statement that attempted to justify the move, a Columbia spokesperson said: “We regret that protesters have chosen to escalate the situation through their actions. After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice.”