More Than 100 Arrested At NYU Protest As Cops Tear Down Pro-Palestinian Encampment
More than 100 people were arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest in New York City on Monday night, police said, as similar demonstrations and arrests took place at college campuses across the country.
New York University students and faculty were among the 120 people taken into custody after rocks, chairs and water bottles were thrown at New York Police Department officers who were called to disperse an encampment outside NYU’s Stern School of Business in Manhattan at the school’s request, authorities said.
All but four of those arrested were released with summonses for trespass. The remaining individuals received desk appearance tickets for charges that included trespass, resisting arrest and obstructing government administration, a police spokesperson told HuffPost.
Video and photos posted to social media show officers physically wrestling with protesters and apparently discharging pepper spray while taking down tents and clearing out the surrounding Gould Plaza. Demonstrators later took to the streets before eventually dispersing.
The NYU protest against Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza followed last week’s demonstrations at nearby Columbia University, which also resulted in more than 100 arrests and the cancellation of in-person classes.
In response to NYU’s protest being suppressed, students, faculty and human rights activists accused the school and police of stripping away students’ First Amendment rights.
“It’s a really outrageous crackdown by the university to allow the police to arrest students on our own campus,” NYU law student Byul Yoon told The Associated Press on Monday.
“Shame on NYU, my employer and alma mater, for allowing NYPD to shutdown a peaceful assembly and arrest dozens of anti-genocide protesters,” Jamil Dakwar, the director of the ACLU’s Human Rights Program and an adjunct NYU professor, said in a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter.
Student organizations called for a walkout during classes on Tuesday afternoon. Plywood was seen being put up around NYU’s Stern School of Business earlier in the morning.
Police officials on Tuesday commended responding officers that intervened in the NYU protest, with Tarik Sheppard, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of public information, saying that they were “professional and they left without any incidents” in an interview with Fox 5 New York.
The vast majority of the protesters were not violent, but there were possibly “professional agitators” who were “just looking for something to be agitated about,” Sheppard said.
“One of the things they will do is try to inject things like weapons, bottles, rocks, to sort of ignite a confrontation between police and possibly peaceful protesters. They want the police to react to bottles being thrown or a rock being thrown,” he added.
Speaking alongside Sheppard, Kaz Daughtry, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of operations, accused NYU faculty members of being among those who created some of the biggest trouble for officers.
“The faculty, from what I observed and spoke to the lieutenants and captains out there, were the most aggressive toward the police,” he told Fox 5, adding that roughly 10 to 15 faculty members had their hands “tied together like a chain” and refused to let go.
Daughtry said he personally suspects that someone was sponsoring the protesters, based on many protesters’ use of the same style of overnight tent that was erected throughout the plaza.
“Somebody’s behind this, and we’re going to find out who it is,” he said.
Meanwhile, NYU has publicly admonished the demonstrators.
In a statement late Monday, NYU spokesperson John Beckman accused the protesters of carrying out an hourslong demonstration on private property without advanced notice or authorization and in a way that was disruptive to classes and other school operations.
After repeatedly refusing to leave, “there were intimidating chants and several antisemitic incidents reported,” Beckman said.
“We will continue to support individuals’ right to freedom of expression, and, as we have said since October, the safety of our students and maintaining an equitable learning environment remain paramount,” he added.
Beckman did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment.
Schools across the country have continuously grappled with on-campus demonstrations since the start of Hamas’ October attack against Israel.
Pro-Palestinian students have demanded that their schools condemn Israel’s assault on Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 33,000 Palestinians and the injuries of more than 75,000 others, according to the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian aid organization. Protesters also want their schools to sever ties with companies that sell weapons to Israel.
