Student protest group confirms Hamilton Hall occupation, warns authorities against using force
A student protest group at Columbia confirmed its members had “reclaimed” the Hamilton Hall building just after midnight and would continue there until Columbia concedes to the movement’s demands, which include cutting ties with Israeli institutions.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest said on X: “Liberators acting in solidarity with Palestine continue to hold themselves to a higher standard than Columbia.”
The statement addressed Columbia’s administrators and trustees and referenced deadly crackdowns on anti-Vietnam war rallies, warning them not to “incite another Kent or Jackson State by bringing soldiers and police officers with weapons onto our campus: Students’ blood will be on your hands.”
Protesters rename Hamilton Hall as ‘Hind’s Hall,’ after slain 6-year-old Palestinian girl
Protesters at Columbia University stormed a building on campus overnight, renaming the storied Hamilton Hall as “Hind’s Hall” in honor of Hind Rajab — the six-year-old girl who was killed in Israel’s offensive in Gaza after begging first responders to save her life in harrowing calls later published online.
Hind’s story sparked outrage around the world earlier this year after she was found dead in a vehicle in Gaza City with several of her loved ones, who were also killed.
She had been missing for 12 days after pleading with first responders to save her, with phone call recordings showing a frightened Hind imploring rescuers to “come take me. Please, will you come?”
Her mother told NBC News of her devastation after her daughter’s body was found in February. The remains of two paramedics dispatched to save her were also found in a burnt out ambulance nearby.
Protesters break windows at Columbia University hours after school starts suspending student demonstrators
Protesters at Columbia University broke windows at the Manhattan campus’ Hamilton Hall early Tuesday, hours after the school began suspending students who defied a deadline to leave a pro-Palestinian camp set up to protest the war in Gaza.
NBC News could not confirm how many people were inside Hamilton Hall, but the university’s student newspaper, the Columbia Spectator, reported that dozens of protesters had occupied the building.