Last updated April 20th, 2024, 6:40 PM
On the morning of April 17th, Columbia students built a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the East Lawn around 4 am, hours before President Shafik testified at Congress.
Around 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 18th, 2024, students were peacefully protesting when the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group (counter-terrorism squad) raided the Columbia campus under the order of Columbia University’s own president, Minouche Shafik. The NYPD came armed with sticks, body armor, face shields, and helmets against a group of students without weapons and posing no threat whatsoever. Students linked arms, forming a circle in the middle of the protest encampment.
After one round of warnings that lasted only a few minutes, NYPD SRG started forcibly removing, arresting, handcuffing, and zip-tying Columbia students from the encampment.
108 students were arrested and put into overheated correctional buses. A blockade of 114th Street by the NYPD facilitated the mass arrest. The arrest included three civil society protest watchers. Columbia facilities then cleaned the lawns, but Columbia students were able set up a new protest camp next to the original encampment.
Since the NYPD released them on the same evening, most of the arrested students have been suspended by Columbia and Barnard. In some cases, they were kicked out of their dorms after being given 15-minute warnings and restricted from all Columbia facilities, including the dining hall and school premises. As of the morning of putting this photo essay together (April 20th), Barnard issued “banned on campus” posters around the school, curtailing students’ most basic access to food and shelter.
NYPD has not stepped foot on the Columbia campus since the 1968 Vietnam War protests; when Columbia students protested, they were beaten by the police and arrested.
I have been photographing campus since the 16th/17th to get as many pictures and stories as possible. I hope that after seeing everything, you will stand with students, professors, and staff (many of whom are being threatened by Columbia, already suspended, or fired) to denounce Shafik’s use of NYPD on peaceful protesters.
Since I am currently unaffiliated with any media/press, I want to use this independent space to post my full perspective of these last few days. Yes, I know there are many contradictions here. At the same time, Columbia has also come to fundamentally oppose our freedom of speech and students' basic needs, which is much more ironic.
Below, I have included a link to the live reporting (still being updated) from Columbia Daily Spectator, Columbia’s undergraduate student publication. I encourage following Spec’s tireless reporting to stay updated on what is happening on and around campus. website, Instagram, and Twitter.
Shafik authorizes NYPD to sweep ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment,’ officers in riot gear arrest over 100
All images by Jefferson Sheng
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On the evening of April 17th, 2024, the NYPD was heavily present at our campus gates after President Shafik’s testimony at Congress. On the same morning, Columbia students set up a Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the East lawn. Columbia gates were closed leading up to the 17th; only Columbia ID holders could access campus. Protests occurred on the street side and inside campus.
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On the morning of April 18th, 2024, rumors were going around that a police raid would take place soon, but no one was sure when. Rallies near the encampment were held, and there were also protests outside Columbia’s main Broadway, 116th gates.
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Around 12PM, police presence started to build up near the campus. 114th Street (right below Columbia’s campus) is blocked by police. Instead of entering through Columbia’s front gate, Strategic Response Group enters through Columbia buildings on 114th Street to hide their movement from the increasing number of students at Low Plaza. The operation to raid Columbia is imminent.
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At 1 p.m., Minouche Shafik orders the NYPD to raid our campus. SRG penetrates the campus and enters the encampment's lawn. Students then form a ring.
Under the names of founding fathers engraved on Butler Library, students link their arms to protect themselves.
Columbia students protesting around the encampment were all chanting “Shame on you” towards NYPD, denouncing the police presence on campus and also being in solidarity with the students who were getting arrested.
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Around 1:20 PM, NYPD starts arresting students.
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Protesters are hauled into correctional buses. I overheard from the police intercom that reinforcement was coming from other precincts.
Correctional buses were being filled with Columbia students. Protesters are blocking their exit, and NYPD is encircling protesters and collapsing the area of movement.
Correctional buses are backing out of Broadway instead of Amsterdam since their original operation exit is blocked. NYPD enforcement arrives to secure the other end and push out protesters and media personnel.
Buses exit from Broadway by backing out instead of going ahead onto Amsterdam, taking arrested students to 1 Police Plaza, headquarter of NYPD.
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About two hours after NYPD entered the Columbia campus, Columbia's public safety cleared the lawn where protests and the April 17th encampment took place. Here is a before and after.
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But the protest didn’t stop after Shafik called the raid on Columbia students. It continued stronger inside and outside our campus. A new encampment was set up on the West lawn while Columbia tried to artificially block off the original protesting site. When rumors of another police arrest might happen, students linked arms and picketed around the entire lawn to protect the new encampment.
As of April 19th and 20th, students from universities across the U.S. are protesting in solidarity with Columbia students.
Columbia professors are offering teach-in and office hours at the new protest encampment.
Protesters outside Columbia’s main gate
April 20th: Protesters inside and outside our campus joined together.
With more to come.