Columbia students take over Hamilton Hall after suspensions begin for pro-Gaza protests

Pro-Palestinian protesters forced their way into an academic building at Columbia University early Tuesday, hours after the school suspended students who ignored an order to break up their encampments and leave.

The occupation began shortly after midnight at Hamilton Hall, Columbia’s main administrative building. It prompted the university to restrict access to the campus Tuesday, only allowing students who live in dorms and essential services staff to remain.

While many classes have already ended for the semester, some graduate programs pivoted to remote.

“There is no additional access to the Morningside campus,” a memo from the university reads. “This access restriction will remain in place until circumstances allow otherwise.”

Student protesters said they will stay until Columbia concedes to three demands: Divestment from Israel, financial transparency, and amnesty for all student and faculty disciplinary action related to pro-Palestinian advocacy.

“Resistance is justified in the movement for liberation,” Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of more than 100 groups that runs the encampment, said in a statement.

Videos shows protesters shattering a window with a hammer and creating a barricade with metal chairs outside Hamilton Hall after they entered the building. They chanted during an Instagram livestream: “1, 2, 3, 4, occupation no more. 5, 6, 7, 8, Israel is a terrorist state.”

Protest posters were unfurled from two balconies. One said “STUDENT INTIFADA,” photos show. Intifada in Arabic means uprising, which has been used by Palestinians for decades.

Another banner read “Hind’s Hall,” referring to Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza during an Israeli military operation in January.

Protesters inside the hall — the center of campus protests in the 1960s — were using tables, chairs and zip-ties to prevent anyone from getting in, according to student newspaper the Columbia Spectator.

The student reporters said they observed a facilities worker, who was already inside the building, leave saying: “They held me hostage.”

Two students tried to block protesters from barricading the doors, saying, “You don’t have a right to tear down our University,” the Spectator reported.

“They’re already inside, dumb a**es,” a protester retorted during the Instagram Live. The student group, Students for Justice in Palestine, used a video filter to put virtual mustaches on the students’ faces.

At least one of the students was removed by physical force, videos show.

The NYPD said its officers remained off-campus and have not yet been asked to intervene. There have been no arrests.

University officials over the weekend committed to not calling the cops to break up the recent protests, claiming that police intervention would only inflame an already tense situation.

In their statement, students pleaded with Columbia administrators and trustees: “Do not incite another Kent or Jackson State by bringing soldiers and police officers with weapons onto our campus. Students’ blood will be on your hands.”

The pro-Gaza encampment first emerged on campus on April 17, as Shafik testified before Congress about efforts to curb antisemitism. Thirty hours later, university officials had suspended students involved and called the NYPD, with cops arresting more than 100 students while clearing the lawn.

The protesters quickly returned and re-erected the encampment.

Columbia President Minouche Shafik on Monday morning said negotiations with student protesters had broken down, and Columbia will not divest from Israel. Students were told in writing they had until 2 p.m. to leave the quad or risk suspension. The deadline was ignored.

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(With Thomas Tracy.)

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