Protesters, guards clash at Columbia University
NEW YORK—Pro-Palestinian protesters wearing masks clashed with security guards Wednesday after staging a protest inside Columbia University’s main library.
Videos and photos shared on social media showed dozens of protesters pushing past campus security officers and racing into the building.
The group then hung Palestinian flags and other banners on bookshelves in an ornate reading room. Some also appeared to have scrawled “Columbia will burn” across framed pictures.
Other videos showed campus security officers barring another group of protesters from entering the library, with both sides shoving to try and force the other group aside.
The university’s president, Claire Shipman, said in a statement Wednesday evening that the protesters who had holed up inside a library reading room were asked repeatedly to show identification and to leave, but they refused.
The school then requested the NYPD come in “to assist in securing the building and the safety of our community,” she said.
