Pro-Palestinian students' protests persist despite arrests, suspensions

By Dilara Hamit

One day after Columbia University urged law enforcement to arrest over 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators, students persisted in occupying a part of the campus lawn on Saturday.

Social media footage showed that on Friday, dozens of police remained outside the university gates while inside, the scene resembled a large picnic. Chants alternating between "Free Palestine" and reminders to tidy up and eat echoed from the loudspeaker.

Hundreds of Yale students are also protesting at the Beinecke Plaza outside a Board of Trustees meeting to demand the Yale University divest from Israeli weapons manufacturing.

According to organizers, they will not leave until Yale divests from all military weapons manufacturing.

A Columbia University spokesperson mentioned on Friday that students involved in the encampment have been suspended, though an exact number was not provided. "We are continuing to identify them and will be sending out formal notifications," they said.

The spokesperson added that the encampment has been removed, but they anticipate protests to persist.

The UN on Friday criticized the arrest of students by the New York Police Department (NYPD), who were staging a pro-Palestinian sit-in at Columbia University a day earlier.

"As a matter of principle wherever we have seen demonstrations, we believe that people have an inherent right to demonstrate peacefully," said Stephane Dujarric in response to a question by Anadolu reporter during his news conference.

A crowd of students on Wednesday defied the order to disperse, sitting on the ground and locking arms.

In a letter to NYPD Deputy Commissioner Michael Gerber, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik said all of the students who participated in the demonstration were told that they have been suspended and she claimed the sit-in "raises safety concerns for the individuals involved and the entire community."

Several students were led to NYPD vans and were transported off campus.