New York [USA], May 1: On the night of April 29 and the morning of April 30, protesters broke windows and entered Hamilton Hall located on the campus of Columbia University in New York City (USA). Here, they unfurled a banner reading "Hind Hall", symbolizing the renaming of the building after a 6-year-old Palestinian child killed in an Israeli army attack in Gaza , according to Reuters.
"Students occupying the building will face expulsion," the school said in a statement on April 30, according to AFP. The statement said protesters were given "the opportunity to leave peacefully" but instead refused and escalated the situation.
On the evening of April 30, New York City police entered the Columbia University campus in an apparent attempt to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters, according to Reuters.
In a press conference held a few hours earlier, New York Mayor Eric Adams and city police officials said the occupation of Hamilton Hall was instigated by "outside agitators." According to officials, these individuals do not have any affiliation with Columbia University and are known to law enforcement for inciting lawlessness.
The prestigious school - one of the Ivy League schools in the US - had previously begun temporarily suspending students who did not comply with the dispersal order. In its latest statement, Columbia University said it has expressed a "very clear" stance that the school will not tolerate repeated disruptive behavior by protesters who violate the rules.
"Continuing to do so will have clear consequences. Protesters have chosen to escalate the situation to an indefensible level - vandalizing property, breaking doors and windows, blockading entrances - and we are implementing the measures we outlined yesterday," the school said.
The protest movement protesting Israel's military campaign in Gaza , where hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians have died since October 7, 2023, has posed a challenge to university leaders in the US. Israel and its supporters say the protests are anti-Semitic, while protesters say the accusations are aimed at silencing opponents of the war and preventing freedom of expression.
Columbia University is considered the epicenter of anti-war protests over the past two weeks, with a series of students setting up tents in the middle of campus. Unrest has quickly spread at higher education institutions from the East Coast to the West Coast of the United States, after about 100 protesters were first arrested at Columbia University on April 18.
Columbia University affirmed that the threat of expulsion and other reactions were aimed at the actions of the protesters, not their arguments.
Protesters are making three demands on Columbia University's leadership: divestment from companies that support the Israeli government, more transparency about the school's finances, as well as amnesty for students and faculty. disciplined during protests.
The US is a key ally of Israel and provides military aid to the country during the war in Gaza. The war led to a wave of pro-Palestinian protests in the US and globally. But anti-war protests now have a more political color as the US presidential election race enters the decisive phase.
The White House has criticized protesters' occupation of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, a building once famous for student protests against the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Meanwhile, President US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson has called the protests over the past two weeks an act of "terrorism" and called for Columbia University president Minouche Shafik to resign.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper