Max Matza and Nadine Yousif
BBC News
View: The moment when protesters are attacked by Columbia University Library
Police in New York arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters after occupying part of Columbia University’s main library on Wednesday.
Two university security officers were injured when protesters surged into the Butler Library on Wednesday, according to a statement from the university president who called activists’ actions “outrageous.”
A video posted on social media showed the protesters inside the library. Many wear Kefier scarves and masks, denying the Trump administration’s ban imposed after last year’s campus demonstration.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the visa status of those involved will be reviewed.
More than 70 protesters reportedly have been arrested. No one has been charged yet, and authorities have not given details on who is being held or whether he is in the US on a visa.
In a social media post, protesters accused the university of “violent suppression” and said they refused to show their ID to police and campus public safety officers.
Rubio described the group as “trespassers and destroyers.” He added that “Prohama thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation,” reflecting the justification for Trump’s crackdown on recent protests on Palestinian campus.
Not only targeting prominent individuals, but also by revoking hundreds of international student visas and threatening deportation, Trump’s team is aiming directly for top universities such as Colombia, which accused them of not fighting anti-Semitism on campus.
The latest video of the action at the prestigious New York agency showed protesters destroying their bookshelf by writing “free Palestine.”
Another clip showed that a public safety officer blocked the exit at the library door and asked people inside to show their Columbia ID or arrest.
Columbia President Claire Shipman said he sought help from the New York Police Department (NYPD) on Wednesday, adding that many of the protesters involved in the latest lawsuit are not students.
“At the direct request of Columbia University, the NYPD is responding to ongoing situations on campuses where individuals are occupying libraries and trespassing,” police confirmed in a post on X.
Shipman said the protest was quarantined in one room in the library, but “it is completely unacceptable that students are choosing to disrupt academic activities while students are studying and preparing for their final exams.”
After his predecessor resigned, the President of Colombia, who took over the role in March, asked students to leave the library.
“We do not tolerate hatred or violence in any form of our city,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said in a post in X.
This is the first time Columbia University has called the NYPD to protest on campus since April 2024, when it took Hamilton Hall for nearly 24 hours in April 2024.
Getty Images
The protesters grew as a security standoff, with groups in the library calling themselves “Columbia University apartheid to sell” and “Columbia University apartheid to sell” until the evening
Columbia has drawn certain anger from Trump, who claims that many universities tolerate anti-Semitism and harassment among Jewish students.
The president has threatened to withhold about $400 million (£399 million) in federal funds from Colombia.
In March, Columbia agreed to several requests from the Trump administration, including a ban on face masks during protests and changes to surveillance of several academic programs.
It is unclear whether the funds will be revived, but the lawsuit filed a lawsuit over the cuts.
Colombia was the epicenter of last year’s protests against the war in Gaza and US support for Israel. But it is not the only institution targeted by the US government.
The administration warned 60 universities that funds could be cancelled if anti-Semitism allegations on campus were not addressed.
On Tuesday, Trump fired Harvard University $2.2 billion in taxpayer funds after ordering a review of federal funding. The university refused to bending over Trump’s demands.
With graduation ceremonies underway and attention on campus, it appears that Palestinian protests are on the rise again.
Police arrested Monday as more than 20 protesters were occupying the engineering building on an armored vehicle at the University of Washington.
