NYPD arrests dozens of demonstrators at Columbia University over ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’

New York Police Department officers entered the Columbia University campus on Thursday and arrested students who were participating in a protest for Gaza.

The "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" began Wednesday, the day that the school's president, Nemat Shafik, testified before Congress about antisemitism on campus. 

The elaborate camp featured about two dozen tents, including multiple port-a-potty tents. NYPD warned demonstrators over a megaphone that they needed to disperse or risk being charged with trespassing. When none of the protesters left, officers began opening tents and arresting students with zip ties.

The arrested demonstrators were placed on New York City Correctional Department buses that were waiting on the street next to the school.

The demonstrators, who identified as part of the activist group Columbia University Apartheid Divest, said they would remain encamped until the school divests all finances from any company that profits from Israel.

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