Alec Baldwin smacks phone from anti-Israel protester's hand in coffee shop clash

NEW DELHI: Actor Alec Baldwin found himself in a heated encounter inside a coffee shop when he responded to an anti-Israel protester by smacking her phone away. The incident, which was caught on video and subsequently shared online, features Baldwin at the cash register and on a phone call when approached by the protester.
The agitator, identified as the host of the "anti-fascist" podcast "Crackhead Barney & Friends," repeatedly urged Baldwin to publicly declare "Free Palestine." Despite her insistent requests, Baldwin remained unmoved and visibly frustrated.The footage shows him attempting to direct the protester out of the shop, firmly holding the door open and shaking his head in refusal to her continuous chants.
As Baldwin moves toward the camera, the video abruptly ends, but not before capturing his clear refusal and the agitator's additional taunts about Baldwin's pending criminal case in New Mexico related to the accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie "Rust."
Tensions flare at US universities
Meanwhile, law enforcement officials apprehended numerous individuals participating in demonstrations supporting Palestine at Yale University in Connecticut and New York University in Manhattan on Monday, as the ongoing conflict in Gaza continued to have an impact on university campuses across the United States.
The police actions followed Columbia University's decision to suspend in-person classes on Monday after protesters established tent encampments on its New York City campus the previous week.
According to the student-run Yale Daily News, protesters in New Haven, Connecticut, obstructed traffic around Yale's campus, calling for the university to divest from companies manufacturing military weapons. Police took more than 45 protesters into custody.
In New York, police intervened shortly after nightfall as hundreds of demonstrators had spent hours defying university warnings that they would face repercussions if they did not leave a plaza where they had assembled. Social media footage showed police dismantling tents in the protesters' encampment.
(With inputs from agencies)