Columbia University student radicals abandoned their plans to launch an anti-Israel encampment Thursday afternoon after the Ivy League school warned that participants could face disciplinary actions, including arrest. Instead, agitators pushed protesters to join unrest elsewhere in New York.
During one of those protests, at City College of New York, police pepper sprayed keffiyeh-clad students clashing with law enforcement. Radicals there, about a mile from Columbia’s main campus, had established a “liberated zone,” while dozens of additional agitators gathered outside the campus gates and taunted police.
🚨: Earlier this afternoon, NYPD pepper sprayed a group of anti-Israel agitators at the City College of New York, located just over a mile away from Columbia’s main campus. pic.twitter.com/MFDm4XfUP8
— Jessica Costescu (@JessicaCostescu) April 24, 2025
In an Instagram post promoting the event, NYC Students for Justice in Palestine wrote that “escalated resistance is a responsibility, a duty, and a necessity.” They added, “We follow in the lead of Palestine and the resistance, who show us what true bravery and courage means.”
Several anti-Israel student groups at Columbia, including its Palestine Solidarity Coalition, Jewish Voice for Peace chapter, and Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs Palestine Working Group encouraged their members to “show up” for the protesters.
A City College of New York spokesman said the school was restricting campus access.
“We are aware of protests in and around City College. Extra public safety officers are on campus and access to the campus is restricted to CCNY employees and students with ID,” the spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon.
Meanwhile, almost six miles away from Columbia, the Ivy League school’s most notorious anti-Semitic campus group, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, cosponsored a protest in Washington Square Park. It was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., the same time the Columbia encampments were supposed to begin.
From the park, several dozen keffiyeh-clad protesters marched nearby to New York University.
On Tuesday night, Columbia students planned two encampments at a secret meeting in a Brooklyn community center—one beginning Thursday at 1 p.m. and a second that would launch Friday. The first failed to materialize after the university threatened disciplinary actions—and possibly arrest—if they moved forward with their plan to launch the encampments.
“We have been made aware of possible plans to establish encampments on Columbia’s campuses. We want to clearly communicate that camping and encampments on Columbia’s campuses are prohibited by University Policy,” Columbia’s public safety department announced in a university-wide email Wednesday evening.
“Participants will be instructed to disperse,” the email continued. “Individuals who refuse to disperse will be identified and sanctions, including potential removal from campus and possible arrest, may be applied.”
The Columbia agitators’ decision to back down Thursday allowed Claire Shipman, Columbia’s new acting president who promised to enforce policies restricting unsanctioned and disruptive protests, to avoid having to make good on her administration’s threat. But she could face a serious test if the radicals move forward with an encampment on Friday. Organizers plan to establish it on the Manhattanville campus, which, unlike the main campus, is publicly accessible, and aim to stay indefinitely, according to NBC News.
Nearly a year ago, anti-Israel agitators first set up tents, terrorizing Columbia’s campus for two weeks and culminating in the violent takeover of Hamilton Hall. It took the university nearly a year to punish the students involved with multi-year suspensions, expulsions, and temporary degree revocations.
Last year’s encampments also provided the Trump administration with significant ammo in its decision to freeze over $430 million in Columbia’s federal funding and place demands on the university to curb campus anti-Semitism.
Asked what measures the school is taking to prevent students from setting up encampments, a Columbia spokeswoman pointed the Free Beacon to a Wednesday statement.
“Our focus is on protecting the safety of our community and ensuring that the University is able to proceed normally with all academic activities. We are closely monitoring, as always, for any disruptions, and campus activities are currently proceeding as usual,” the statement read. “Encampments are prohibited under University Policies and participating in an encampment may also trigger University Rules violations. Any violations of University Policies and Rules will be addressed immediately according to our procedures.”
A “March from City College to Columbia” is also planned for Friday afternoon. “As a fascist Trump/Elon regime cuts our universities’ funding, sends ICE on students, and threatens free speech, our universities must make a choice: stand with fascism or stand with us,” a flyer for the protest reads.
Original News Source – Washington Free Beacon
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