All the information you require on the "anti-Semitic" argument, Columbia campus arrests, and US campus protests!

Vibrant pro-Palestinian rallies have been taking place at Columbia University lately, leading to a police raid to seize protestors and break up an encampment. The demonstrations, which are a part of a larger wave of student action taking place across the US, have prompted discussions about the Israeli-Palestinian issue, antisemitism, and freedom of expression.


What took place at Columbia?

Late on Tuesday, the New York City police entered Columbia University to remove a protest encampment that the Ivy League school had been trying to dismantle for almost two weeks, and they arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian protestors, some of whom had taken over an academic building.

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik wrote a letter shortly after the police arrived, requesting that they remain on campus until at least May 17—two days after graduation—in order "to mai The campus was free of protestors after three hours, according to a police spokesperson. Large groups of police officers wearing helmets entered the prestigious upper Manhattan campus at approximately 9 p.m. ET to begin the raid.

This institution has been the center of student protests against Israel's assault in Gaza, which have expanded to numerous other US schools in recent days.Keep the peace and make sure that no new encampments are formed.


Police used a police car with a ladder to enter through a window on the second floor. Students taunted cops with cries of "Shame, shame!" as they stood outside the hallway. Numerous detainees were observed being loaded into a bus by police, all of whom had zip-tied hands behind their backs. The scene was surrounded by police cars flashing their red and blue lights.



Those outside the building chanted, "Free, free, free Palestine." Some shouted, "Leave the students go." One of the student negotiators for Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the coalition of student organizations organizing the protests, Sweda Polat, said that Columbia would be proud of these students in five years.

As authorities yelled at her and other people to back off or leave the school, she argued that students did not represent a threat and urged them to give up. The three things that the demonstrators wanted Columbia to do were divest from businesses that back the Israeli government, increase financial transparency, and grant amnesty to instructors and students who had been reprimanded for their involvement in the protests.