Police were out in force to keep dueling demonstrations apart at Barnard College, after members of a pro-Palestinian group forced their way into a college building and assaulted a school employee Wednesday night. NBC New York’s Erica Byfield reports.
Pro-Palestinian protesters wearing kaffiyeh scarves and masks pushed their way into Barnard College's Milbank Hall, which houses the offices of the dean, and assaulted a school employee Wednesday, according to the school.
The protesters later left Milbank Hall in the night “without further incident,” Barnard President Laura Rosenbury said in a statement.
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“But let us be clear: their disregard for the safety of our community remains completely unacceptable,” she said.
The school had warned that if the students were not gone by 9:30 p.m. officials could be forced to take “additional, necessary measures to protect our campus.”
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The student group Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said on the social platform X that protesters dispersed after the administration agreed to meet with them Thursday afternoon.
The demonstrators demanded amnesty for all students disciplined for pro-Palestinian action; a public meeting with Rosenbury and Dean Leslie Grinage; immediate reversal of the expulsion of two students; and an abolition of the institution's disciplinary process, according to the group.
“WE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL OUR DEMANDS ARE MET. FREE PALESTINE,” it posted on X earlier in the day.
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An employee was sent to the hospital after being assaulted by the protesters, Robin Levine, Barnard’s vice president for strategic communications, said in a statement, without offering further details.
The protesters also encouraged other people to come on campus without identification, Levine added.
“Barnard leadership offered to meet with the protesters — just as we meet with all members of our community — on one simple condition: remove their masks,” she said earlier in the evening. “They refused. We have also offered mediation.”
Videos posted by the student group showed people wearing masks and kaffiyeh scarves chanting in a hallway. Some banged on drums, while others held megaphones.
Palestinian flags were hung on the walls and slogans such as “Barnard funds genocide” and “Free Palestine" were scrawled on the walls.
The protest led to dueling demonstrations at the college's campus on Thursday, with police having to set up barricades in order to separate the groups as they shouted over each other.
