More than 150 people arrested at NYU as pro-Palestine protests sweep college campuses

Protestors demanding that universities divest from companies that sell weapons to Israel

More than 150 people have been arrested at New York University amid a wave of pro-Palestine protests across college campuses.

Students, faculty and others were arrested after hundreds of protestors gathered on Gould Plaza on NYU’s Manhattan campus on Monday night.

Protestors are demanding that universities divest from companies that sell weapons to Israel.

Police warned NYU protestors that they would face consequences if they failed to vacate the plaza after some were seen breaking through barriers that had been set up around the area.

Police detain pro-Palestine protesters who had set up an encampment on the campus of New York University (AFP via Getty Images)

“If you leave now, no one will face any consequences for today’s actions—no discipline, no police,” safety officials told those in the plaza. The same message was shared on the university’s official social media channels.

Protestors were also seen throwing objects at police.

After the police moved in, many protesters relocated to a location on West 3rd Street in Greenwich Village, not far from the Stern School of Business. Others carrying signs started marching peacefully in Lower Manhattan.

Earlier on Monday, nearly 50 people were arrested at Yale University in Connecticut when police in riot gear stormed the campus during a pro-Palestine protest.

The protestors had been camped out on Beinecke Plaza on the university’s campus for three days.

A wave of pro-Palestine protests are sweeping US college campuses in response to Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians.

Encampments have been built by protesters at Columbia, Yale, Tufts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Emerson College, Boston University, the University of California Berkeley, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The protests began at Columbia University last week, where more than 100 people, including many students, were arrested. The demonstrators are demanding that the university divest from “companies complicit in genocide.”

Hundreds of faculty members at Columbia University have walked out to protest against the president’s handling of the situation.

NYPD officers stand by after detaining demonstrators and clearing an encampment set up by pro-Palestine protesters on the campus of New York University (AFP via Getty Images)

Isra Hirsi, daughter of Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, was among those arrested. She was also suspended from the university.

“In my 3 years at @BarnardCollege I have never been reprimanded or received any disciplinary warnings,” Isra Hirsi, who is an organiser for Columbia University’s Apartheid Divest group, wrote on X.

“I just received notice that I am 1 of 3 students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide.”

She continued: “Those of us in Gaza Solidarity Encampment will not be intimidated. We will stand resolute until our demands are met.

“Our demands include divestment from companies complicit in genocide, transparency of @Columbia’s investments and FULL amnesty for all students facing repression.”

Protesters chant near city hall in lower Manhattan after attending an occupation at New York University (REUTERS)

The NYPD reported that 108 people, including Ms Hirsi, were charged with trespassing at Columbia. Two people were also charged with obstructing government administration.

On Monday, Columbia University cancelled in-person classes to “reset” the situation and “deescalate the rancor.”

“There is a pattern of behavior occurring on campuses across our nation, in which individuals attempt to occupy a space in defiance of school policy,” Kaz Daughtry, NYPD’s deputy commissioner for operations, said in a social media post.

“Rest assured, in NYC the NYPD stands ready to address these prohibited and subsequently illegal actions whenever we are called upon.”

Meanwhile, some Jewish students have reported antisemitic harassment and even physical assaults during the protests.

One Jewish student at Columbia claimed that protesters told him to “go back to Poland” after he arrived at their protest with Israeli and American flags.

Another student at Yale who was covering a protest on Saturday as a student journalist said that she was hit in the eye with a Palestinian flag after the attacker realised she was Jewish, resulting in a hospital visit.

Yale University is investigating the incident.