Columbia asks people to avoid campus due to anti-Israel protests

Columbia University is asking staff and students to stay away from its main campus Tuesday after pro-Palestinian protesters took over a building and barricaded themselves inside to protest the school’s refusal to divest from Israel.

“In light of the protest activity on campus, members of the University community who can avoid coming to the Morningside campus today should do so,” the school says in a statement, adding that essential staff should report to work.

It adds that access to the campus and some buildings may be restricted.

The Columbia Spectator student newspaper reports that police are gathered outside the campus, but do not plan to enter.

Protesters inside Hamilton Hall have hung banners out windows reading “Intifada,” “Student Intifada,” and one renaming the building “Hind’s Hall.”

Students and demonstrators lock arms to block access to Hamilton Hall on Columbia University’s campus on April 30, 2024 in New York City. (Alex Kent/Getty Images/AFP)

“An autonomous group reclaimed Hind’s Hall, previously known as ‘Hamilton Hall,’ in honor of Hind Rajab, a martyr murdered at the hands of the genocidal Israeli state at the age of six years old,” CU Apartheid Divest posts on X.

The protestors say they plan to remain at the hall until the university concedes to the CUAD’s three demands: divestment, financial transparency and amnesty.

The New York Times reports that a crowd of hundreds outside the hall has thinned to about 20 people. It’s not clear how many people are inside the building.