An anti-Israel student group behind a fiery protest on the campus of Columbia University in New York City says it walked away from talks with school leaders until administrators pledge not to have them arrested or forcefully removed from their encampment on the Ivy League institution's West Lawn.
Critics of the protest group, including Jewish students and faculty, counter that the demonstrations are disrupting learning and creating an unsafe, antisemitic environment at the $65,000-a-year university. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft even publicly condemned school leaders in a statement from his philanthropic organization announcing he would be withdrawing support for his alma mater over the ongoing atmosphere.
Neither group alleged police had used excessive force after the clearings, even as the NYU protesters were accused of hurling objects at police. Columbia leaders had been resistant to the idea of allowing cops on campus, however, and instead reverted to COVID-era remote learning as Jewish students voiced concerns for their safety.
Anti-Israel mob rallies outside Sen. Schumer's NYC home The New York Democrat, who is Jewish, is also the Senate majority leader. Agitators there condemned his support for Israel and demand he call for an end to the U.S. providing weapons to Israel for its ongoing battle against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The NYPD arrested dozens of those protesters after they sat in the middle of a major intersection and refused to move. Onlookers who obeyed police commands to let cars pass cheered as their compatriots were led out in groups of two to four at a time with their wrists zip-tied behind their backs. The arrestees were later placed on jail buses. Police did not immediately provide a summary of the number arrests and charges.