A group of more than 50 anti-Israel protesters took over a building at New York City’s Barnard College and allegedly assaulted an employee Wednesday evening.
The students were protesting the expulsion of two students who stormed a Columbia University classroom in January and allegedly threw around flyers filled with hateful speech.
Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine displayed videos on X of masked students in a hallway beating on drums and chanting on megaphones.
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The account also posted a list of demands accompanied by the text, “WE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL OUR DEMANDS ARE MET. FREE PALESTINE.”
The demands include an “immediate reversal of the two Barnard students’ expulsions” and “amnesty for all students disciplined for pro-Palestine action or thought. Drop all the charges now!”
They also requested a public meeting with Dean Leslie Grinage and President Laura Rosenbury, and the abolition of the “corrupt Barnard disciplinary process,” demanding complete transparency for current, past and future disciplinary proceedings.
The students said that they will continue to disrupt the campus until these demands are met.
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A spokesperson for Barnard said the protesters had assaulted a college employee who ended up being sent to the hospital.
“They encouraged others to enter campus without identification, showing blatant disregard for the safety of our community,” Robin Levine, Barnard College’s Vice President for Strategic Communications, said in a statement.
Levine said she would give them until 9:30 p.m. to leave the building or the school would take other actions.
“We have made multiple good-faith efforts to de-escalate. Barnard leadership offered to meet with the protesters,” Levine’s statement said. “They refused. We have also offered mediation.”
The protesters began leaving the building by 11 p.m., according to reports by FOX 5 New York.
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