logo
Multiple Protesters Arrested After Pro-Palestinian Demonstration at Columbia University Library

Multiple Protesters Arrested After Pro-Palestinian Demonstration at Columbia University Library

Epoch Times08-05-2025

Multiple people were arrested on May 7 during pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University in New York.
Dozens of protesters stood on tables, beat drums, and unfurled pro-Palestinian banners in the reading room of Columbia University's main library on Wednesday.
Videos and photographs on social media showed protesters, most wearing masks, with banners saying 'Strike For Gaza' and 'Liberated Zone' beneath the Lawrence A. Wein Reading Room's chandeliers in the Butler Library.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) responded to the incident at the request of the university.
'The NYPD responded to an ongoing situation on campus where individuals have occupied a library and are trespassing,' a department spokesperson said in an emailed statement to NTD, sister media of The Epoch Times. 'Multiple individuals who did not comply with verbal warnings by the NYPD to disperse were taken into custody.'
A police spokesperson late Wednesday said the department wasn't able to provide a number for how many were arrested.
Related Stories
5/1/2025
4/14/2025
New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned activists in a
According to the
'Due to the number of individuals participating in the disruption inside and outside of the building, a large group of people attempting to force their way into Butler Library creating a safety hazard, and what we believe to be the significant presence of individuals not affiliated with the university, Columbia has taken the necessary step of requesting the presence of NYPD to assist in securing the building and the safety of our community,' Shipman said in a
Shipman also
'These actions are outrageous,' Shipman added, stressing that the university condemns violence on campus, anti-Semitism, and all forms of hate and discrimination.
A social media account for Columbia Jewish and Israeli Students published footage of the clash between protesters and officers.
'Protesters attempting to stampede public safety to avoid being identified as they leave,'
Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a pro-Palestinian student group, confirmed in a
Secretary of State Marco Rubio
The Trump administration earlier this year threatened to cut more of the university's federal funding for its alleged failure to address anti-Semitic activities on campus.
In March, it pulled $400 million in research grants and other funding over the university's handling of pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's military campaign in Gaza, which was launched in response to terrorist group Hamas's attack on Israel in October 2023.
According to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, universities must comply with all federal anti-discrimination laws if they want to receive federal funding. McMahon said Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students on its campus for too long.
Columbia announced a series of
The protests mark a resurgence of demonstrations seen last spring against the institution's ties to Israel. A
'As a democracy with constitutional protections for the individual rights of all citizens, and as the home to great universities, Israel shares values, interests and aspirations with us,' the statement said. 'Columbia benefits from ties with Israeli faculty, students, research, and technology.'
Reuters contributed to this report.
From NTD News

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction 2 far-right Israeli Cabinet ministers

time15 minutes ago

UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction 2 far-right Israeli Cabinet ministers

JERUSALEM -- Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway said Tuesday they have imposed sanctions on two far-right Israeli government ministers for allegedly 'inciting extremist violence' against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich face asset freezes and travel bans from the five countries. The ministers are champions of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The decision by Western governments friendly to Israel was a sharp rebuke of Israel's settlement policies in the West Bank and of settler violence, which has spiked since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. The five countries' foreign ministers said in a joint statement that Ben-Gvir and Smotrich 'have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights. Extremist rhetoric advocating the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements is appalling and dangerous.' Israel's Foreign Ministry said earlier it had been informed of the sanctions. Smotrich, the country's finance minister, wrote on social media that he found out that Britain had decided to sanction him for obstructing the viability of a Palestinian state. 'We are determined to continue building,' he said. 'We overcame Pharoah, we'll overcome Starmer's Wall.' Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, wrote on social media. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the move 'outrageous.' He said he had discussed it with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and they would meet next week to discuss Israel's response. The Biden administration took the rare step of sanctioning radical Israeli settlers implicated in violence in the occupied West Bank — sanctions that were then lifted by President Donald Trump. Eitay Mack, an Israeli human rights lawyer who spent years campaigning for the sanctions on Smotrich and Ben-Gvir — along with violent West Bank settlers — described the move as 'historic.' 'It means the wall of immunity that Israeli politicians had has been broken," he said. 'It's unbelievable that it took so long for Western governments to sanction Israeli politicians, and the fact that it's being done while Trump is president is quite amazing,' said Mack. "It is a message to Netanyahu himself that he could be next." Israel captured the West Bank along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want those territories for their hoped-for future state. Settlement growth and construction have been promoted by successive Israeli governments stretching back decades, but it has exploded under Netanyahu's far-right coalition, which has settlers in key Cabinet posts. There are now well over 100 settlements and 500,000 Israeli settlers sprawling across the territory from north to south — a reality, rights groups say, dimming any hopes for an eventual two-state solution.

UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction 2 far-right Israeli Cabinet ministers
UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction 2 far-right Israeli Cabinet ministers

The Hill

time30 minutes ago

  • The Hill

UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction 2 far-right Israeli Cabinet ministers

JERUSALEM (AP) — Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway said Tuesday they have imposed sanctions on two far-right Israeli government ministers for allegedly 'inciting extremist violence' against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich face asset freezes and travel bans from the five countries. The ministers are champions of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The decision by Western governments friendly to Israel was a sharp rebuke of Israel's settlement policies in the West Bank and of settler violence, which has spiked since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. The five countries' foreign ministers said in a joint statement that Ben-Gvir and Smotrich 'have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights. Extremist rhetoric advocating the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements is appalling and dangerous.' Israel's Foreign Ministry said earlier it had been informed of the sanctions. Smotrich, the country's finance minister, wrote on social media that he found out that Britain had decided to sanction him for obstructing the viability of a Palestinian state. 'We are determined to continue building,' he said. 'We overcame Pharoah, we'll overcome Starmer's Wall.' Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, wrote on social media. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the move 'outrageous.' He said he had discussed it with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and they would meet next week to discuss Israel's response. The Biden administration took the rare step of sanctioning radical Israeli settlers implicated in violence in the occupied West Bank — sanctions that were then lifted by President Donald Trump. Eitay Mack, an Israeli human rights lawyer who spent years campaigning for the sanctions on Smotrich and Ben-Gvir — along with violent West Bank settlers — described the move as 'historic.' 'It means the wall of immunity that Israeli politicians had has been broken,' he said. 'It's unbelievable that it took so long for Western governments to sanction Israeli politicians, and the fact that it's being done while Trump is president is quite amazing,' said Mack. 'It is a message to Netanyahu himself that he could be next.' Israel captured the West Bank along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want those territories for their hoped-for future state. Settlement growth and construction have been promoted by successive Israeli governments stretching back decades, but it has exploded under Netanyahu's far-right coalition, which has settlers in key Cabinet posts. There are now well over 100 settlements and 500,000 Israeli settlers sprawling across the territory from north to south — a reality, rights groups say, dimming any hopes for an eventual two-state solution. ___ AP Correspondent Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

Couple wanted for questioning by NYPD in fatal Bronx stabbing
Couple wanted for questioning by NYPD in fatal Bronx stabbing

Yahoo

time30 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Couple wanted for questioning by NYPD in fatal Bronx stabbing

Cops want to question a man and a woman they believe have pivotal information about the fatal stabbing of a 39-year-old man outside a historic former Bronx NYPD stationhouse earlier this month, officials said Tuesday. Cops released surveillance footage of the couple in the hopes that someone recognizes them. They want to quiz the pair as they continue to look for the man who fatally stabbed Shamel Parnell in the neck and chest on Bathgate Ave. near E. Tremont Ave. about 12:20 a.m. on June 2. Police last week released a surveillance image of the suspected stabber, who fled the scene in a cab. Parnell got into an argument with his killer before being stabbed. Medics rushed him to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died about 25 minutes later, officials said. The stabber fled in a dark-colored cab last seen heading west on E. 179th St., police said. Cops recovered a knife at the scene. The victim's mother, Sherri Parnell, 61, hadn't seen her son for more than a decade when he was killed. 'When the officers came yesterday, they showed me a picture and it was him,' she said after the slaying. 'I haven't seen him in some years, many years really. Approximately 12 years. But that's still my son. 'He stayed with me a little when I lived in another part of the Bronx but he'd always be going out, coming in,' she added. 'I didn't know what he was doing.' The building Parnell was stabbed in front of housed the NYPD's 48th Precinct for decades but is now home to a Head Start program. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 for its notable architecture. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store