[FoxNews] Majority of those detained were female students who renamed Butler Library the 'Basel Al-Araj Popular University'
The New York Police Department arrested 61 females after anti-Israel agitators stormed Columbia University's Butler Library on Wednesday as students were studying for finals.
In total, the NYPD made 80 arrests – 19 males and 61 females, according to a source. A source also said at least 50 of the 80 protesters arrested were Columbia University students.
| The other 30 being professional cadres, or at least paid, no doubt. How many of each group were foreigners, whether legal or illegal? |
Protesters renamed the Butler Library "Basel Al-Araj Popular University." Students at the Ivy League institution said protesters climbed on a desk and chanted "Free Palestine," and demanded that the university divest from Israel.
At the entrance gate to Columbia University, a security guard said, "Nobody comes in, nobody comes out."
Claire Shipman, Columbia's acting president, said in a statement on Wednesday that the NYPD was called to help "secure" the building. She added that two university police officers were injured.
"Sadly, during the course of this disruption, two of our Columbia Public Safety Officers sustained injuries during a crowd surge when individuals attempted to force their way into the building and into Room 301," Shipman said. "These actions are outrageous." Acting Columbia President Claire Shipman releases a video statement on the protest, saying she saw the library room “defaced and damaged in disturbing ways and with disturbing slogans.”
“Violence and vandalism, hijacking a library — none of that has any place on our campus,” Shipman says. “Let me be clear: Columbia unequivocally rejects antisemitism and all other forms of harassment and discrimination.”
Shipman says 900 students were forced out of the library during the protests. |