Own Correspondent:
Almost all entrances of Columbia University are now crowded with police and private security personnel, barricades on the road. Students are leaving the campus for home with their belongings. The class has been canceled and it is not clear when the exam will be held.
There is a sense of dread and uncertainty everywhere about what is going to happen next in the university.
The students said that the entire campus is now in turmoil due to the arrest of more than a hundred people after raiding the university’s Hamilton Hall to prevent protests against the incident in Gaza.
Police at Columbia University, dozens of students arrested 34,568 Palestinians killed in Israeli attack on Gaza* In a message after the police operation, university president Nemat Shafiq said that it was with deep sorrow that he had to order the police to conduct an operation against students and trespassers and it would take time for the wounds to heal.
On the other hand, the governor of California has come under criticism for the violence at the University of California. A group of masked pro-Israelis attacked the tents of pro-Palestinian students there before the police were called to the campus.
The governor’s spokesman said the ‘limited and delayed’ police intervention in the incident was totally unacceptable. Hundreds of police officers were stationed at the campus on Wednesday.
However, many complained that the police did not take quick action during the clash around the students’ tents on Tuesday midnight. Officials, however, said police were quickly deployed after the outbreak of violence.
For some time now, fierce student protests have been going on in US universities demanding a boycott of various individuals and companies related to Israel. It turned into clashes at several places on Tuesday night.
Before this, for the past few weeks, various universities in the United States, including Harvard and Yale, have been violent in pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests. Protesters are calling for a boycott of companies and individuals associated with Israel.
New York police raided the academic building occupied by protesting students at Columbia University in the United States on the night of May 1st. The police started the operation at 9:30 pm local time.
According to the police, they entered the building called Hamilton Hall with the permission of the university authorities. All the protestors stationed there have been removed.
Sources:CNN, Al-Jazeera.