What we’re covering
- NYPD officers, via an elevated ramp, have entered the second floor of Hamilton Hall, the Columbia University building that has been occupied by students protesting Israel’s war in Gaza. The police department acted after receiving a letter from the administration authorizing them to enter the campus, a law enforcement source told CNN.
- Dozens of people were arrested, ziptied and escorted to awaiting NYPD buses, CNN reported from the scene.
- Columbia has been the epicenter, but protests have been roiling universities across the country, with administrations taking different approaches to the encampments that have sprouted up in support of the Palestinian cause.
- Some schools — like Yale and Brown — have cleared encampments on campus, while chaos has engulfed other schools. Classes were canceled at UNC Chapel Hill, where dozens of students were detained, and at least five protesters were arrested at Florida State University.
NYPD enters Hamilton Hall through second floor window
The New York Police Department just entered Columbia’s Hamilton Hall through a second floor window.
Live pictures show at least 50 officers using an elevated ramp to climb into the building through a window. Most were wearing helmets and some were carrying heavy-duty bolt cutters and flexi-cuffs, a zip-tie-like restraint cuff.
Protesters breached Hamilton Hall in the early morning hours Tuesday. They barricaded and locked doors at the entrance.
NYPD takes several protesters into custody just off Columbia’s campus
From CNN’s Mark Morales
Several protesters at Columbia University were seen being taken into custody just off campus at 116th and Amsterdam in New York.
Scores of New York Police Department officers in riot gear could be seen coming down Amsterdam toward protesters, drawing audible boos from the crowd.
Officers were also standing shoulder to shoulder in front of the gate at 116th and Amsterdam.
