NYPD cops stormed onto Columbia University’s campus on Tuesday night to oust a pro-terror mob that illegally took over an academic building – and to clear out an anti-Israel encampment after the school finally gave them the green light.
Hundreds of officers swooped inside the gates of the Morningside Heights school shortly after 9 p.m. and set their sights on historic Hamilton Hall, the building that was taken over by rogue rioters in a drastic escalation of the protests that have plagued the campus for weeks.
But when dozens of Emergency Service Unit officers got to the building, they were blocked from entering the front doors which had been barricaded by the unruly mob.
Several protesters appeared unbothered as they stood in the doorway with only a glass pane between them and the officers — as their comrades on the streets shouted “Pigs!”
The NYPD then brought in its Mobile Adjustable Ramp System vehicle and scores of riot-gear clad cops carrying zip-tie handcuffs entered Hamilton Hall through the second-floor window in a dramatic scene.
According to officials, cops used four distraction devices — described by Assistant Commissioner Carlos Nieves as a “very loud bang to distract people” — to infiltrate the academic building.
Within about an hour, the academic building was cleared out and dozens of the occupiers were arrested, according to police sources.
The protesters — many of whom covered their faces with surgical masks or keffiyehs — were walked out of Hamilton Hall and loaded onto three NYPD buses.
Multiple demonstrators continued screaming anti-Israel sentiments, while at least one was seen crying.
The officers also stationed themselves in front of off-campus housing and were greeted with hostile shouts of “NYPD, KKK, IOF! They’re all the same!”
Columbia University issued a statement just 15 minutes after cops entered the campus, saying it “regretted” having to rely on police to clear the mess.
“After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized and blockaded, we were left with no choice. Columbia public safety personnel were forced out of the building, and a member of our facilities team was threatened. We will not risk the safety of our community or the potential for further escalation,” the administration said.
The NYPD then swiftly moved onto the campus’ South Lawn to clear out student protesters at the mini tent city, which remained in place despite the vacate deadline the university set the day prior.
“The people that were in the encampment are now gone,” said Nieves.
The camping tents and protesters’ belongings were all that remained on the lawn Tuesday night and would be cleared by the university, he added.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry told The Post that the hectic operation “went very well.”
In total, about 100 protesters were arrested in the mass sweep, according to sources.
The arrests continued hours after both the building and the encampment were cleared, including some outside of the campus.
NYPD brass announced earlier Tuesday that the Hamilton Hall occupiers would be charged with third-degree burglary, criminal mischief and trespassing, while those camped out on the lawn would be hit with trespassing and disorderly conduct charges.
Despite the crowds being dispersed on Tuesday, the NYPD will remain on Columbia’s campus until the university’s May 15 commencement, sources told The Post.
The Ivy League school said it decided the NYPD would intervene early Tuesday morning, hours before police Commissioner Edward Caban indicated his officers would be ready to mobilize as soon as he received the call.
“The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing,” officials continued.
“We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law.”
The NYPD had mobilized to storm the campus hours earlier, with about 100 cops from the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit packed into buses and headed to Columbia in preparation for the university’s call for help, sources told The Post.
Dozens of others wearing riot gear and holding zip-tie handcuffs huddled on the street corner, apparently waiting for the go-ahead.
The NYPD blocked pedestrian and vehicular traffic on 114th Street and Broadway, while spectators chastised them: “Shame, shame, shame!”
About 45 minutes before the NYPD stormed the grounds, Columbia University issued a shelter-in-place for students over “heightened activity” at the Morningside campus — and warned that those who do not abide will be hit with “disciplinary action.”
The university’s Chapter of the American Association of University Professors issued a scathing statement once the officers began mobilizing, accusing Columbia’s administration of ignoring the faculty’s offers to “defuse the situation.”
“We hold University leadership responsible for the disastrous lapses of judgment that have gotten us to this point. The University President, her senior staff, and the Board of Trustees will bear responsibility for any injuries that may occur during any police action on our campus,” the group said.
Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest on Columbia University’s anti-Israel protests
NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban confirmed earlier Tuesday that the department would swoop in if needed, as it had done two weeks earlier when student protesters first set up its mini tent city.
“Once the university asks for our help, the NYPD will be there ready to assist them,” Caban emphasized.
Meanwhile, NYPD officials revealed Tuesday that the mob of masked agitators who smashed their way into Hamilton Hall in the middle of the night included “professional outside agitators” not affiliated with Columbia or the pro-Palestinian cause.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the pro-terror protests at Columbia University:
- NYPD ‘mobilizing’ for action at Columbia, but admin has not asked for cops yet
- Columbia anti-Israel protesters are defying order to disperse by 2 p.m.: Here’s what happens next
- House Democrats demand Columbia University trustees disband ‘tent camp’ or resign
- US colleges where students have been arrested over anti-Israel protests
The group displayed escalation tactics seen in the previous rallies, including dragging metal barricades inside the building, using furniture to block the doors and destroying the property.
“We were well aware, based on a series of observations that what should have been a peaceful protest as part of the constitutional rights of Americans, has clearly been co-opted the right which this administration supports and defends to voice your concern,” Adams said.
The group took over the building — which they dubbed “Hind’s Hall” in honor of Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in the Middle Eastern conflict — after Columbia University threatened to suspend students who didn’t vacate the encampment they had hunkered down on almost two weeks earlier.
Antisemitism controversy at Columbia University: Key events
- Columbia University president Minouche Shafik was accused of “gross negligence” while testifying before Congress. Shafik refused to say if the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is antisemitic.
- More than 100 Columbia professors signed a letter defending students who support the “military action” by Hamas.
- Antisemitic posters depicting Israel as a skunk appeared on campus — which experts liken to a propaganda poster used by the Nazis in World War II.
- Radical anti-Israel activists Charlotte Kates and Khaled Barakat told Columbia students in a two-hour tirade, “There is nothing wrong with being a fighter in Hamas” in a seminar called “Resistance 101″ — weeks before the campus exploded in pro-Palestinian protests.
- Columbia students erected 60 tents on campus to demand that the university divest from Israel.
- More than 100 other protesters were arrested after Shafik announced the campus’s closure.
- Israel-born professor Shai Davidai was barred from campus after he attempted to lead a pro-Jewish rally.
- Every New York House GOP lawmaker demanded that Shafik resign immediately.
- Columbia University’s Jewish Alumni Association also called for Shafik’s resignation.
Anti-Israel protesters planted dozens of tents on April 17 in solidarity with the Palestinian people, quickly igniting what has become a trend at elite universities across the Big Apple and the nation.
Hundreds of students — including “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter — were arrested and charged with trespassing the following day when the Ivy League school called on the NYPD to clear the rabble-rousers from the grounds.
Columbia University even doled out suspensions — which would make senior students ineligible for graduation next month — but the crowds returned within just 24 hours.
The administration tried yet again to force the rowdy students off the property but failed to reign in the disruptive demonstration for several hours.
Busloads were on standby in case the revolt took a turn, but were ultimately not asked to intervene.