Arrests at Columbia University: Police enter hall where students barricaded

approaching the window where as we've been reporting dozens have made their way inside and you can see that you know there's students a large number of students and their supporters outside Columbia University and over the past hour we have seen a number of students and that might in fact be those students whove been apprehended by police over the past hour our correspondent today's a b telling us that the students that have been arrested just over the last hour uh were very much peaceful protesters the university has released a statement saying that they've called in the police because of so-called agitators they say who've infiltrated these protests it's an allegation that's been made um against various protests across American universities over the past few weeks since they really began so let's uh let's let's go now to that guest on the phone Cameron Jones again Cameron Jones's lead organizer at Colombia's Jewish voice for peace he's a sophomore student he's joining us from the University thank you very much for your time tonight firstly can you describe to us what's happening around you yes of course so thank you for having me on and myself and dozens of other students press members and Medics were gathered outside the occupied hind Hall while police came in and then the police chose to push all these students all of the press in all of the Medics out of the vicinity of the hall and into a nearby building so individuals could not recorded could not help those in need of help and could not bear witness to the police brutality that has taken place which is extremely egregious and an attack on the freedom of the press and the freedom of students to be on our public college campus and unfortunately we have seen videos and have reports that students have been taken away and zip ties there was a um we saw footage of one student being pushed to the ground and then became unconscious and was arrested while they were unconscious they have now regained Consciousness but being pushed to the ground by the police and being made unconscious is extremely outrageous and it is really really unfortunate to hear all of the videos and testimonies that we have rolling in The Washington Post just reported that officers entered pin Hall with their guns drawn we are hearing rumors of possible tear gas being deployed so it is really really scary situation for everyone involved and I do want to push back on what the university said that yeah Mr Jones I want to I yeah I I absolutely want to hear what you think about what the university is saying but before we get to that I really want to establish where you were because you said said you said you were inside a hall when you were pushed out so there were dozens of students press and Medics who were gathered outside of the hall that the police are now in okay so you were outside Hamilton Hall and you were pushed out when when the police officers when the very large contingent of police officers arrived about an hour ago yes okay and we were pushed into a nearby building called John J hall okay and now to your point about what the university is saying saying that agitators have infiltrated the protests is this something that you've seen how long have you been involved in these protests and is it something that you've seen yeah I have not seen agitators or infiltrators become involved in these protest I have been involved in this movement on campus since October and I can tell you right now we do not have agitators or infiltrators involved in our spaces so it really appears as though the university is making up a fake excuse so they can bring in the violent NYPD to violently arrest students which is extremely concerning and extremely harmful and we also just saw reports that the university PL to keep NYPD on campus until May 17th okay but why would the university want to do that I mean why would they make up you know false accusations to involve the police especially with the world media watching what's happening at American campuses yeah so I think we saw a couple weeks ago when Colombia called on the NYPD to arrest over 100 individuals the um Colombia appears to not care about the public pressure and the public outcry what they do care about is seemingly wanting to keep their donors and to uphold their support of the Israeli states which is extremely constraining to see that they are willing to put their students at risk to support a foreign government that is committing a genocide U Mr Jones what does your organization Jewish voice for peace think about the allegations of anti-Semitism against your protests yeah so it is very unfortunate to hear those allegations because members of Jewish members of Jewish voice for peace and other members of the Jewish community on campus have been involved in this movement since October and we have been there every step of the way and we do not tolerate any anti-Semitism and it is really unfortunate to see anti-zionism being conflated with anti-Semitism because they are not the same thing at all and it is outrageous that we are still having this conversation when there is a genocide going on and just lastly Mr Jones you know when students started these protests they were against Israel's war on Gaza they wanted the university to divest from its investments in Israel especially in Israeli weapons manufacturers uh during Israel's war on Gaza but since then and since the arrests that we've seen at Columbia University and other universities you know students are now demanding that their fellow protesters don't face repercussions for exercising their Democratic you know rights to freedom of speech and freedom of expression by taking part in these protests have has the university indicated that they're willing to make any concessions at all on this the university has not indicated that they are willing to make any concessions and they have only been engaging in bad Fai negotiations the university has done everything in their power to suppress the pro Palestine movement on campus and appears to want to do whatever's in their power to stop us from organizer all right that is Cameron Jones He is the lead organizer at Columbia University's Jewish voice for peace he's joining us on the phone from the University uh on the very uh important night where once again we know that a number dozens of police officers have gone inside a historic Hall where protesters have been barricaded since Monday evening we don't know what's happening inside that Hall but we are looking at the live pictures watching the situation very closely and doing so with us are our correspondents outside Columbia University one of them is Kristen salumi she has been with us over the past hour and is still with us now so Kristen tell us what is happening around you so the group of demonstrators that have gathered here have marched off down the street they're headed towards uh the police station where they believe that demonstrators who are being arrested will be taken to to have a presence there as well um but you can see behind me the heavy police presence continues and there's still some bystanders around here as well uh the can see the vans that are set up to take people on and off the campus um we haven't seen the students coming out on this side uh the buses I believe are on the other side that are going to be going to the police station um but I've been speaking to people here who've gathered on the sidelines including a young man who's With Me Now by the name of Henry Henry is a graduate of Columbia very recent graduate just in the last year uh and you've been active with the demonstrations here tell me about that what your involvement then and why yeah so I I graduated in in the spr or in the summer last year um and I stayed involved because my friends were still on campus a few of them were arrested um I live near campus I care about the university um and I feel really deeply betrayed by it um and yeah I mean obviously the university has a big stake in this the students have been fighting something I've been speaking about the students I've been fighting for this for a long time we had a divestment vote when I was a freshman in 2019 that's a great point just to just to harp on that for our viewers that before October 7th the cause of the Palestinians was known to students here this is not something recent this has been a longtime issue for students at Columbia yeah I mean um Columbia's University of Edward S you know a great scholar of Palestinian history and his people and it's you know it's been that's a history that's been totally betrayed by the university and it was betrayed before in 2019 um the students voted overwhelmingly for divestment we were told it wasn't a the university doesn't get in politics to me this is politics you know the Tel Aviv Global Center is Politics the fact that there's students here who can't participate in the full breath of the uh what Columbia offers because they partner with the country with race laws with a partti well like a wellestablished fact um that to me is Despicable um so I didn't like the old Administration I definitely don't like how man is handling this yeah and in terms of the support that you've been seeing on Camp we're now hearing a lot about these outside agitators coming in and stirring things up what have you observed in terms of what have you observed in terms of looks like they're moving some people out here uh in terms of other protesters coming I know I've seen a lot of pro and anti-d demonstrators okay we're being moved to the sidewalk here so let's continue our conversation on the sidewalk um yeah how would you characterize the people who've come here to take part in the yeah so there's certainly been a lot of outside presence a lot of it I think has been very supportive very reasonable there's obviously been people um who have different agendas who are here I think that's been one issue for the organizers is that they there are a lot of opportunities for people who want to suppress the movement who want to slander it um to pick and choose from the people outside the gates also like I know a couple days ago or yesterday there were big pro Israel demonstrations those I think have been the most most virulent in their in their rhetoric the most most AGG um and so yeah that's definitely an issue but I think the students have done a really good job staying on message um yeah despite that do you feel like the campus is divided between the supporters and the not supporters uh and and who do you think has the upper hand at this point I mean I can't speak for all the students I I live in my bubble but I think support for for Palestine and for divestment and for the what the students are fighting for is really deep it's really broad I think it's really well articulated I can't speak for every student but I mean I was on the encampment for a couple days my ID still works don't tell the administration um and you know they they were hosting a Seder they they had um different kinds of dance and they had teachings and people were speaking to each other to me it was a really beautiful scene so I think there's a space for every member of the Columbia Community at the protest with the cause with the movement um whether everyone supports it I'm sure everyone doesn't uh but I think the support is really deep and really broad I have to ask you about the terms uh inata and from The River To The Sea because that seems to really trigger um anti-semitic accusations from people what what do you think when people are saying that what the Palestinian supporters mean by that yeah I mean I won't speak for every champ but those two are ones that I'm really up in arms about I think they're totally justified in I think when people slander that it's just it's just anti-arab racism it's anti- Arabic anata in Arabic as far as I know means Uprising um you describe any Uprising as in inata um I think what we're seeing it a protest movement is analizing and I think that's totally justified as to the river to the sea I think that's that's something that's been like deeply astur recently like I know the ADL which keeps very close track of anti-Semitic protests uh anti-semitic language anti-semitic chance up until October they they just List It On their website as a as you know something a chant that's used by Palestine supporters um and now there's a three paragraph four page explanation about why it's anti-semitic I think that's ridiculous I mean for one thing uh from the river to the sea is also a right-wing Israeli chant and notably Israel already extends from the Jordan River to the to the Sea um whereas when Palestinians are calling from Freedom From The River To The Sea I think they're calling for an end to a paride an end to the walls uh freedom of movement freedom to live safely uh without the threat of bombs without the checkpoints uh so I think they're good chance and I think it's I think it's a tragedy how they've been malign and I also think it distracts from the movement like we're we're here at the end of the day we're here not because of Columbia but because there are no universities in Gaza 30,000 people have been killed mostly women and children um and that's what people are here fight there are people who my whole life haven't earn freedom in Gaza there there's nowhere on Earth that's like Gaza and so that's what the students are here fighting for um and I think th those chants in particular I think they're on message I don't think they should be I don't think there's something that should be a cause for the Biden Administration or for the Columbia Administration to take issues with the protesters I think that distracts I think it's a tactic to distract from what's really an issue here which is the lives of people in Taza Henry thank you so much for your time and sharing your thoughts with us

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Id: FXHdkeVSr-E

Length: 14min 20sec (860 seconds)

Published: Wed May 01 2024