The eight-story, neo-classical constructing has been the location of assorted pupil occupations courting again to the Nineteen Sixties.
At a night information briefing held just a few hours earlier than police entered Columbia, Mayor Eric Adams and metropolis police officers mentioned the Hamilton Corridor takeover was instigated by “outdoors agitators” who lack any affiliation with Columbia and are recognized to regulation enforcement for upsetting lawlessness.
Police mentioned they primarily based their conclusions partly on escalating techniques within the occupation, together with vandalism, use of barricades to dam entrances and destruction of safety cameras.
One of many pupil leaders of the protest, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian scholar attending Columbia’s Faculty of Worldwide and Public Affairs, disputed assertions that outsiders led the occupation.
“Disruptions on campus have created a threatening atmosphere for a lot of of our Jewish college students and school and a loud distraction that interferes with the instructing, studying and making ready for ultimate exams,” the college mentioned in an announcement on Tuesday earlier than police moved in.
