More than 100 Columbia University students were arrested Thursday, the culmination of months of on-again, off-again student protests on campus since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on Oct. 7.

Several protests took place in Colombia, with students expressing support for the Palestinians and opposing Israel’s bombing of Gaza, which has killed about 33,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

University President Minouche Shafik authorized her arrest one day after she testified at a U.S. House of Representatives hearing “Columbia in Crisis: Columbia University’s Response to Anti-Semitism.”

“I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances,” Shafiq said in an email to Columbia University students, faculty and staff after the arrests began.

The students, who call themselves Columbia University segregation retreaters, set up dozens of tents on the East Lawn in the heart of the university campus at 4 a.m. Wednesday. They also put up banners declaring the space a “Gaza Solidarity Camp.”

Students posted demands on the group’s Instagram account, including calling for Columbia to divest from “companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and the occupation of Palestine.” They added that they planned to stay in the camp until their demands were met.

According to Shafiq, protesters were told multiple times that they were violating university policy and must disperse. She also said, “All college students participating in the camp have been informed of their suspension. At this time, camp participants do not have the right to enter university property and are trespassing.”

The NYPD Strategic Response Team arrived around 1 p.m. Thursday, handcuffed protesters with zip ties and ushered them off campus. They were loaded onto a correctional facility bus and headed to Police Plaza 1. Capt. Jaclyn Keane confirmed at a press conference and reported by the school that the 108 students were charged with trespassing, while two others were also charged with obstructing government administration. colombian daily Observerthe student newspaper.

This is the first mass arrest of students on the Columbia University campus in 50 years.

After the arrests, camp supporters surrounded the fenced-off East Lawn, chanting “Shame on you” and other slogans at NYPD officers who remained at the scene. Supporters eventually moved temporarily to the West Lawn of campus.

The second occupation was supported by several prominent activists, including Palestinian writer and poet Mohammad Kurd and independent U.S. presidential candidate and Columbia University faculty member Cornel West, who addressed the crowd.

“They can read Sophocles, they can read Karl Marx, they can read Martin Luther King, but when it comes time to take a stand against genocide, they’re not going to do it,” West stood said the center of the Colombian government. Seated protesters.

A student protester urged the crowd to stay around 6 p.m. Thursday.

“We ask you to remain on this lawn in solidarity with the people of Gaza… Remember that solidarity is an action, not just a feeling, and we want you to stay here as long as possible,” she said .

As of Thursday evening, more protesters were occupying campus’ West Lawn than the night before, bringing tents and supplies with them to prepare for the night.

Outside campus, supporters marched around campus and chanted in solidarity with those on campus.

These latest actions are a continuation of tensions on Columbia’s campus that have been going on since October 7. The action on campus thrust Columbia into the spotlight as student activism at elite universities enters the national discussion about the Israel-Gaza war. Harvard University President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned following backlash over comments they made before the House Education Subcommittee earlier in the year.

Rep. Virginia Foxx, chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, released a statement Thursday supporting the arrests, writing: “Colombia must take the bold and difficult actions necessary to address widespread anti-Semitism, support for terrorism, and contempt for the United States. Phenomenon. ” The University allows for the imposition of rules on its campuses that include real discipline, including suspension, expulsion and dismissal, commensurate with the severity of the offense committed by students, faculty and staff. ”