The gunfire happened late Tuesday as police officers stormed the hall where pro-Palestinian protesters had been barricaded for more than 20 hours.FILE - As light rain falls, New York City police officers take people into custody near the Columbia University campus in New York, April 30, 2024.
Despite more than 100 arrests the next day and the clearing of the tents, the protesters defied threats of suspension to return to the encampment. Then they escalated their demonstration by occupying Hamilton Hall, an administration building that was similarly seized in 1968 by students protesting racism and the Vietnam War.
which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there. Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages in an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. For hours, officers warned over loudspeakers that there would be arrests if the crowd did not disperse. Protesters and police shoved and scuffled. Police helicopters hovered and the sound of flash-bangs pierced the air. Police pulled off protesters’ helmets and goggles as they made arrests.
Ariel Dardashti, a graduating UCLA senior studying global studies and sociology, said no student should feel unsafe on campus. “We’ve got a whole lot of people in these universities drawing six-figure salaries and they stood by and did nothing,” Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher told reporters.