Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested at Columbia University after occupying part of the school’s main library in a standoff that lasted several hours.
University officials said they requested police intervention after student activists, refusing to leave the Butler Library, renamed the space and demanded divestment from firms linked to Israel’s war in Gaza.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) confirmed multiple arrests.
Videos posted by Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) showed NYPD officers in riot gear entering the library reading room, where demonstrators had locked arms and chanted slogans.
New York police detain pro-Palestinian demonstrators after Columbia library protest Photo: AA
Claire Shipman, Columbia’s acting president, said calling the NYPD was a “necessary” step to ensure safety.
“The protesters’ actions were outrageous,” she said, noting that two public safety officers were injured in the confrontation.
About 75 people were detained, according to the student-run Columbia Daily Spectator. Footage online showed individuals being led away in zip-tie restraints and placed onto police buses.
The protest began earlier in the afternoon, when demonstrators entered the library, donned keffiyehs, and unfurled a banner reading “strike for Gaza”. They distributed pamphlets calling for divestment and renamed the occupied space after Palestinian intellectual Basel Al-Araj.
The standoff marks the latest flashpoint in a broader crackdown on campus protests by the Trump administration. The administration has accused Columbia of failing to prevent antisemitism and revoked $400 million in federal research funding.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration is reviewing the visa status of pro-Palestinian protesters who occupied Columbia University’s main library in Manhattan late Wednesday.
"We are reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University’s library. Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X.
We are reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University’s library.
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 8, 2025
Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation.
Columbia is under mounting pressure following last year’s protests and leadership changes. A previous encampment and takeover of Hamilton Hall had also ended in mass arrests. New campus rules now bar anonymous protest and require student identification.
Previously, Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and prominent Palestinian activist, was arrested in March 2025 during a wave of federal crackdowns on campus protests. He remains in custody, with civil rights groups criticising his continued detention as politically motivated. Khalil had previously spoken at several demonstrations calling for divestment and was among those targeted under the Trump administration's intensified scrutiny of pro-Palestinian student organisers.
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