A group of protesters including Columbia University students and faculty were arrested as more than 100 people rallied Thursday outside the Upper Manhattan campus against the federal immigration crackdown, organizers said.
Protesters wearing shirts emblazoned with “ICE OFF CAMPUS” sat in the middle of Broadway near the main campus gates at 116th St., singing, “We shall not be moved,” a live stream of the protest broadcast by Reuters shows.
“When immigrants are under attack, what do we do? Stand up! Fight back!” the protesters chanted.
Police told the demonstrators to leave the roadway or face arrest, before moving in on those protesters who refused to leave.
Organizers said police arrested 12 individuals, including Columbia students, staff and faculty.
A police spokesman could not immediately confirm the arrests.
The protesters accused the university’s board of trustees of aligning the school with the Trump administration and empowering campus security to arrest students.
The action’s organizers accused board members of laying the groundwork for the federal immigration arrest of Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil nearly a year ago. ICE would go on to target multiple Columbia students, including Mohsen Mahdawi, Yunseo Chung and Ranjani Srinivasan.
“Over the past two years, we’ve seen Columbia violently suppress student speech exposing Columbia’s complicity in ongoing genocide in Palestine,” Cameron Jones, an undergraduate student organizer, said. “By suspending, brutalizing and facilitating the kidnapping of their students, the university has made clear that there is no line it will not cross in service of genocidal regimes.”
Columbia responded with a statement in which the school denied claims that it collaborated with ICE to crack down on dissidents, saying federal agents always require a judicial warrant before being admitted onto school grounds.
“Columbia University supports the right of individuals to peacefully protest. However, claims made against the University during today’s protest activity, which took place outside of our gates, are factually incorrect,” the statement read.
Columbia spokespeople declined to comment on the protesters’ ties to the university, referring questions about the arrests to the NYPD.
