Columbia students stage sit-in on campus for 'solidarity in Gaza encampment' as ... trends now
Hundreds of Columbia University students staged a sit-in on campus for 'solidarity in Gaza encampment' as President Minouche Shafik testified before Congress about anti-Semitism.
Students began setting up tents around 4 am on Wednesday, hours before Shafik was scheduled to testify before the House Education and Workforce Committee about rampant anti-Semitism remarks on campus.
Inspired by the occupation of Hamilton Hall on campus in 1968 against the Vietnam War, students gathered at what they called the 'Gaza Solidarity Encampment' to demand the school administration to divest from companies affiliated with Israel
Around 60 tents dotted the campus's south lawn, featuring two large signs declaring 'liberated zone' and 'Gaza solidarity encampment'.
As of Wednesday noon, it remained unclear who organized the sit-in, but students with SJP (Students for Justice for Palestine) and PSL (Party for Socialism and Liberation) were spotted on the ground.
Hundreds of Columbia University students staged a sit-in on campus for 'solidarity in Gaza encampment' as President Minouche Shafik testified before Congress about anti-Semitism
Students began setting up tents around 4 am on Wednesday, hours before Shafik was scheduled to testify before the House Education and Workforce Committee about rampant anti-Semitism remarks on campus
As of Wednesday noon, it remained unclear who organized the sit-in, but students with SJP (Students for Justice for Palestine) and PSL (Party for Socialism and Liberation) were spotted on the ground
Around 60 tents dotted the campus's south lawn, featuring two large signs declaring 'liberated zone' and 'Gaza solidarity encampment'
One of the protesters, Catherine Elias, told Columbia Spectator that the demonstrators 'won't be moved until they meet our demands.
'Our demands are in the path and carrying the movement that has been set on this campus for over 60 years since 1968 to the 1980s to the '90s to 2024 today,'
'The anti-apartheid movement and student organizing struggle at Columbia has been alive and well for over 60 years, and we carry all of those organizers with us as we come here today,' Elias said.
Protesters also displayed numerous signs written on cardboard, including ones that read: 'From river to sea, Palestine will be free' and 'Say the word genocide', videos on social media show.
Only 30 minutes after the protesters pitched their tents, a NYPD vehicle drove into the campus before representatives arrived to ask the students to evacuate.
'The presence of tents on South Lawn is a safety concern and a violation of university policies,' a university spokesperson wrote in a statement.
'We are informing the students they are in violation of university policies and for their own safety and for the operation of the university they need to leave.'
