As NYPD arrest 300, NJ officials warn of severe consequences for protesters

As the NYPD arrested nearly 300 protesters at Columbia University and the City College of New York, the pro-Palestine sit-in at Princeton University and the encampment at Rutgers University continued on Tuesday.

Administrators in Princeton promised severe consequences against protesters affiliated with the university.

Police response in New York

In Manhattan, NYPD officers entered Columbia’s campus Tuesday evening after the university requested help, according to a statement released by a spokesperson.

A tent encampment on the school’s grounds was cleared, along with Hamilton Hall, where a stream of officers used a ladder to climb through a second-floor window. Protesters had seized the hall at the Ivy League school about 20 hours earlier.

Just blocks away, demonstrators at The City College of New York stood off against police outside the public college’s main gate.

NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell told ABC 7 Eyewitness News that 170 of the arrests were made at CCNY and 119 came at Columbia.

Protests were broken up at Tulane University, The University of Wisconsin in Madison and at UCLA.

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A call to drop charges

In Princeton, a sit-in on Cannon Green entered its seventh day with organizers encouraging supporters to contact administrators to drop consequences against the 13 protesters arrested Monday for entering Clio Hall.

Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber called their actions "completely unacceptable" and dangerous.

Princeton University Campus Life Vice President Rochelle Calhoun said protesters who entered Clio Hall created a “dangerous situation” for employees.

"As protestors entered Clio Hall, our staff found themselves surrounded, yelled at, threatened, and ultimately ordered out of the building," Calhoun said. "Princeton staff serve the teaching and research mission of the University by providing support that makes the work of faculty and students possible. The way they were treated yesterday was abusive."

They face a disciplinary process that may lead to suspension, the withholding of degrees, or expulsion but the process will not likely be complete by commencement at the end of the month, according to Calhoun. Criminal charges are also possible.

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GOP legislators: Keep it peaceful

Pro-Palestinian protesters are expected at an "emergency rally" at the May Day celebration in front of Rutgers Law School in Newark on Wednesday.  The rally is to show support for the encampment at the New Brunswick campus.

Several New Jersey Republicans from Monmouth County said they are OK with protests as long as they remain peaceful. They called on Rutgers to handle any flareups "swiftly and decisively" to maintain safety.

"We have received assurances from Rutgers that this protest and 'tent city' on campus will remain peaceful," state Sen. Senator Declan O’Scanlon, Assemblywoman Victoria Flynn and Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger, all Republicans, said in a joint statement. "While we have conveyed those assurance to parents and constituents, they remain fearful with what they are seeing happening elsewhere in the country because these protests tend to escalate into violent activity due to the instigation of outside influence, mostly from non-student agitators."

They pointed out that the current week is a "Reading Week" with no classes in preparation for finals, which begin Monday.

"If there is any lawlessness or discriminatory activities that occur on campus, we demand that Rutgers take swift action to stop it because hate has no place here in New Jersey," the legislators said in their statement.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli said on his X account that “any students despicably violating university policy should be expelled; those breaking laws should be arrested & non-citizens here on academic visas acting unlawfully should be deported.”

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