NY police arrest pro-Palestinian protesters on Columbia campus

The New York police moved Thursday to quell a protest at Columbia University, arresting dozens of demonstrators who had constructed an encampment of about 50 tents on campus. The arrests came the day after university leaders pledged to Congress that they would crack down on student protests tied to the war in Gaza.
Officers, clad in riot gear and prepared with zip ties, began taking protesters into custody just before 1.30pm (local time) amid dozens of tents and scores of demonstrators gathered in front of Butler Library."Since you have refused to disperse, you will now be placed under arrest for trespassing", a man repeatedly called through a loudspeaker. "If you resist arrest, you may face additional charges."
The remarkable scene played out less than 24 hours after Columbia's prez and other top leaders appeared before Congress to describe their handling of protests since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. The officials insisted that they would adopt a harder line. Hundreds of students and others rallied with the protesters inside and outside of the school overnight and through the morning. "They can threaten us all they want with the police, but at the end of the day, it's only going to lead to more mobilisation," said Maryam Alwan, a pro-Palestinian organiser on campus.
The actions represented a sharp challenge to Columbia's prez, Nemat Shafik, who largely conceded in a hearing before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on Wednesday that she felt some of the common chants at pro-Palestinian protests were antisemitic. In a letter on Thursday as the arrests began, Shafik said she "took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances. The individuals who established the encampment violated a long list of rules and policies. "