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Pro-Palestinian students in NYC shattered glass doors, vandalized offices before City College police raid

Emma Seiwell and Cayla Bamberger, New York Daily News on

Published in News & Features

NEW YORK — Pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a City College administration building, vandalizing offices and shattering glass doors, before the City University of New York called in the NYPD to clear the encampment overnight, officials and students said Wednesday.

The group at the tent demonstration on the school’s Harlem campus also tried breaking into Shepard Hall, an ornate building modeled after Gothic cathedrals, according to a CUNY spokesperson.

NYPD cops entered campus at City College’s request around 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, resulting in 173 arrests in and around the CUNY college, university and police officials said.

Campus safety arrested 25 people who advanced from outside Columbia University, where hundreds of cops in riot gear stormed campus and arrested students occupying Hamilton Hall, to City College to continue their protest.

“We will not be intimidated by these brutal and spineless tactics,” students from the Gaza Solidarity Encampment said in a statement. “We take our lead from the steadfast resistance of the Palestinian people.”

Faced with a Wednesday deadline to clear the encampment before classes resumed after spring break, students said they voted unanimously to stay and defend the encampment. Several protesters were beat with batons, while one undergraduate student broke their ankle and two protesters cracked their teeth, they said.

 

“Students have a right to demonstrate peacefully and exercise their First Amendment rights,” the CUNY spokesperson said. “Actions were taken in response to specific and repeated acts of violence and vandalism, not in response to peaceful protest.”

“CUNY will continue working to keep our community free from violence, intimidation and harassment.”

Photos from inside the building show metal air vents ripped from the walls and chairs flipped upside down. Several umbrellas were fastened in front of glass doors as barricades while masks to cover protesters’ faces were seen scattered across the floor.

“VICTORY: STUDENTS HAVE ENTERED AND BEGAN OCCUPYING A BUILDING AT CCNY,” students from the CUNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment wrote on Instagram. The post showed two protesters pouring water into the eyes of another demonstrator, who appeared to have been pepper sprayed.

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