Top New York prosecutor says 280 people arrested at campus protests; independent review into UCLA violence – as it happened (2024)

New York police deputy commissioner, Kaz Daughtry, has posted an update saying Columbia requested assistance to “take back their campus”.

He said that police were “dispersing the unlawful encampment and persons barricaded inside of university buildings and restoring order.”

Columbia has published a letter that the university president, Minouche Shafik, wrote to the New York police department on Tuesday, requesting that they retain a presence on campus until mid-May.

With the utmost regret, we request the NYPD’s help to clear all individuals from Hamilton Hall and all campus encampments.

In light of the activities that occurred after the events of April 17-18, 2024, we further request that you retain a presence on campus through at least May 17, 2024 to maintain order and ensure encampments are not reestablished.

The letter goes on to say that the university trusts that police will “take care and caution when removing any individual from our campus”.

The Guardian has published video of the moment that police entered the occupied building at Columbia, Hamilton Hall.

Live TV images from Columbia show that a number of police vehicles have now left the campus, including at least two buses filled with detained protesters.

Local media is reporting that less than two hours after the police entered Columbia, officers are now dispersing the last of the protesters.

A police spokesperson has been speaking to CNN and told the network that officers have used flashbang grenades as they cleared the campus.

A flashbang is a weapon used to disorientate – it produces a blinding flash of light and an extremely loud “bang”.

The New York Times has reported that Carlos Nieves, a police department spokesperson, said “no tear gas was used inside the campus,” adding that “the N.Y.P.D. does not use tear gas.”

A second bus has been filled with detained protesters, seated with their hands tied behind their backs, according to local media.

It’s being reported that demonstrators offered no resistance as police cleared them out of the occupied Hamilton Hall.

Below are some images that have come in of protesters being led on to the waiting police buses.

On Tuesday evening, New York police began flooding the streets and erecting metal barriers in front of Columbia’s main campus, but some students – and their supporters – were allowed to continue north a mile and a half to The City University of New York (Cuny), as planned.

As the protesters reached Cuny, dozens of police officers rushed to stand in front of the campus gates which were already secured with barricades. The protesters demanded they be allowed in, and nudged towards the barricades. They chanted slogans throughout including: ‘Cuny, Cuny your hands are red, 40,000 Palestinians are dead.’

Police pushed some of the protesters to the ground, and several people were arrested. One young woman wearing a hijab was in tears after a police officer charged into her.

By 8pm there seemed to be hundreds of police on the scene, some were carrying truncheons and zip ties. The students were trying to find a way on to campus but were being directed into streets which were blocked off by barricades or police. We could hear lots of sirens coming from all directions.

At around 8pm we could hear sirens heading towards Columbia and several buses with the word ‘corrections’ painted on them sped past. Similar buses have been used by the NYPD to transport detained protesters in recent days. At about 8.30pm reports started emerging from Columbia faculty members that a shelter in place order had been issued, as police officers in riot gear prepared to storm the campus.

New York congressman Jamaal Bowman has said he is “outraged” by the level of police presence at Columbia and other New York universities.

The militarization of college campuses, extensive police presence, and arrest of hundreds of students are in direct opposition to the role of education as a cornerstone of our democracy.”

Bowman has called on the Columbia administration to stop the “dangerous escalation before it leads to further harm” and allow faculty back on to campus.

A long line of police officers were seen climbing into the occupied building through a second-story window, using a vehicle with a ladder to gain access to the upper floor.

Reuters is reporting that dozens of other officers swarmed over the nearby protest encampment, as onlooking students standing just outside the campus jeered them with shouts of “Shame, shame!”

Before long, officers were seen leading handcuffed protesters to police vehicles outside campus gates.

Police boarded about 50 detainees on to a bus, each of them with their hands bound behind their backs with zip ties, the entire scene illuminated with flashing red and blue lights of police vehicles.

The New York Times is reporting that there were five buses in total, however it’s unclear how many were filled with detained protesters.

“Free, free, free Palestine,” chanted protesters outside the building. Others yelled “let the students go”.