NY police arrest Columbia University students protesting Israel's Gaza war

Police in New York have arrested Columbia University students mid-protest as they rallied in support of Palestine and voiced their opposition to the Israeli war on Gaza.

Several students involved in the protest said on Thursday that they have been suspended from Columbia and Barnard College, including Isra Hirsi, who is the daughter of US Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat.

The Congresswoman had questioned Columbia's president, Nemat Shafik, about the school's targeting of pro-Palestinian protesters at a hearing on Wednesday.

Protest organisers said Hirsi also was among those arrested.

Columbia students have been protesting on campus since Wednesday, demanding the prestigious school divest from companies they claim "profit from Israeli apartheid" and Israeli military actions in besieged Gaza.

Shafik issued a statement saying the school had warned protesters on Wednesday that they would be suspended if the protest encampment was not removed.

Police acknowledged they moved in and made numerous arrests on Thursday afternoon and were removing the tents put up by the protesters. They could not say how many people had been arrested or any charges they might face.

Video of the incident showed uniformed officers led onto campus by NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell and Deputy Commissioner for Operations Kaz Daughtry. Police later cleared an encampment on a university lawn.

"Shame on you," a raucous throng of students can be heard shouting as police entered with dozens of zip ties to take students into custody.

Protest organisers decried the universities actions.

"We demand full amnesty for all students disciplined for their involvement in the encampment or the movement for Palestinian liberation," Rosy Fitzgerald, a spokesperson for the Institute for Middle East Understanding, said in a statement.

Public anger in the US is growing as numerous intellectuals and public figures have come forward to condemn the harsh actions taken against protesting Columbia students.

Writer Sarah Kendzior, noted for her insights on authoritarian regimes, expressed her dismay over the police action at Columbia University.

"I recall when Columbia invited me to talk on authoritarianism and dissent in the former Soviet Union," Kendzior remarked, drawing a stark parallel.

Cornel West, philosopher and activist, has also thrown his full support behind the embattled students at Columbia University. Stepping into the fray, West joined the solidarity movement at Columbia, voicing strong condemnation of the university's actions.

High tension

Tensions in the American educational institutes have been high since October 7 Hamas blitz on Israel that it says was orchestrated in response to Israeli attacks on Al Aqsa Mosque, illegal settler violence in occupied West Bank and to put Palestine question "back on the table."

The hours-long raid and Israeli military's haphazard reaction resulted in the killings of more than 1,130 people, Israeli officials and local media say.

Palestinian fighters took more than 250 hostages and presently 130 remain in Gaza, including dozens who the Israeli army says are dead, some of them killed in indiscriminate Israeli strikes.

Israel has since then killed nearly 34,000 Palestinians — 70 percent of them babies, women and children — and wounded around 77,000 amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, starving.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said recently there were reasonable grounds to believe Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.