Police were seen arresting two people during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Columbia University in New York on Monday, hours after the university canceled in-person classes to calm tensions on campus where police stormed a tent encampment last week.
The protests began at Yale University, Columbia University, and other universities across the United States in response to the latest escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which began on October 7 with an attack by Hamas fighters on Israel, which responded by bombing the Gaza Strip.
Human rights defenders pointed to an increase in hatred for Jews, Arabs and Muslims and bias against them in general since October 7th.
Columbia University President Nemat Shafik said in a statement that the university had canceled in-person classes and once again denounced the anti-Semitic language, intimidating and harassing behavior that she said had occurred on campus recently.
Nemat testified before a US House of Representatives committee last week, during which she defended the university’s response to allegations of anti-Semitism by demonstrators and said, “We need to restore the situation as it was.”
“These tensions have been exploited and amplified by individuals not affiliated with Columbia University who have come to campus to advance their own agendas,” she added.
In a move denounced by some faculty members, Shafik last week summoned the New York Police to evacuate tents set up by protesters in the main park to demand that the university divest from Israel-related activities.
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