The occupation of Columbia University Of New York tonight is over. In an operation resembling a military assault, dozens of officers in riot gear broke into the occupied Columbia building, breaking through the cordon of protesters trying to block entry and arresting dozens of demonstrators.
The decision was made by the mayor Eric Adams, after negotiations between the university and the occupiers failed on Sunday. The president of Columbia asked for the mayor's intervention Minouche Safikwhich has been harshly criticized by some members of Congress in recent days for not sufficiently protecting the safety of Jewish students.
“The decision to call in the NYPD was a response to the actions of the protesters, not the subject of their protest,” a university spokesperson said. “We have made it clear that campus life cannot be interrupted at any time. 'endless by those who violate the rules and the law.” Shortly before, it was announced that those occupying the building would be expelled.
Having learned of the imminent police intervention, the students already on Tuesday morning created barricades with tables, chairs and wardrobes taken from the classrooms of the same building already occupied for more than a week during the '68 protests.
The situation at Columbia has worsened in recent days as groups of outside agitators joined the students and were welcomed with full honors. In addition to dozens of individuals with the face covered by keffiyehalso a well-known 63-year-old activist, a regular at protests for climate, free Palestine and the occupation of Wall Street, arrested 80 times and considered a “professional protest consultant”, a real consultant who in recent days has instructed students to make the protests more effective.
The clearance of Columbia and the dozens of arrests will not put an end to the protests in American universities, nor to the impressive tide of antisemitism now out of control. The same universities that fed their children on bread and anti-Westernism now find themselves reaping the fruits of their work.
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