Pro-Hamas Protests Rage Into the Night at Columbia University

The ongoing protests at Columbia University heated up Saturday with approximately 200 demonstrators partaking in yet more anti-Israel, pro-Hamas displays. 

A notable incident occurred when a student was taken away on a stretcher and received medical attention from Columbia University EMS, a university spokesperson told The New York Post. A group of student protestors used black umbrellas and a tarp to obstruct the view of the woman as she was taken away on a stretcher. The exact condition of the student remains unclear. 

The charged atmosphere included “death to Israel” chants and police in riot gear clashing with the protestors outside of a locked university campus gate at West 115th Street and Broadway in New York City.

Attempts by protestors to break down the gate as well as climb over the barrier were captured on livestream video.

Counter-protestors also assembled waving the flag of Israel. A pro-Hamas supporter stood nearby with a sign that read, “Al-Qassam’s next targets,” and an arrow pointing to the Jewish students. “Al-Qassam” refers to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization responsible for the October 7 attacks on Israel.       

New York City council members Shahana Hanif, Alexa Aviles, Sandy Nurse, and Tiffany Caban visited the demonstration in the afternoon, along with actress Susan Sarandon and Shellyne Rodriguez, the former CUNY professor who once threatened a Post reporter by holding a machete to his neck.

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In the last several days, police have intervened by taking down pro-Hamas encampments, where the occupiers demanded that the university divest from Israel. NYPD made over 100 arrests when the protests turned violent. Columbia University responded to the incident by suspending the students, including Isra Hirsi, the daughter of Minnesota’s Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. 

The American Association of University Professors at the sister schools provided a statement to The Post following a “mass emergency meeting” of faculty on Friday.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Administration’s suspension of students engaged in peaceful protest and their arrest by the New York City Police Department.

We demand that all Barnard College and Columbia University suspensions and charges be dismissed immediately and expunged from the students’ records, and that all rights and privileges be restored to them immediately.

The protests have raged through the night and continued into the early hours of Sunday morning. RedState will bring you updates as warranted. 

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