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Student protesters at Columbia University reassembled their anti-Israel tent encampment on a central campus lawn early Friday — less than 24 hours after the NYPD arrested more than 100 people at the original installation.
Dozens of students sat with blankets and Palestinian flags on the lawn opposite the one where hundreds of others camped out for nearly 48 hours until yesterday’s faceoff, video from the independent reporter Spyder Monkey showed.
#NYC Morning Everyone! I’m reporting inside Columbia’s campus where students have simply rebuilt the encampment zone on the other lawn after yesterday’s sweep.The original lawn, once a designated ‘free speech zone’ for students, is now just placeholder for construction cargo. pic.twitter.com/N9wLA50PDq
The site of the original protest was littered with construction materials, the footage indicated.
It was not immediately clear if the materials had been placed on the grass purposefully to discourage students from re-erecting tents there.
The group appeared on the second lawn sometime in the early hours, and was already dozens strong by sunrise, additional footage from independent journalist Olga Fe showed.
A small sign that read “Join Us” in purple lettering was placed next to a large sign that declared the area a “Gaza Solidarity encampment.”
The student protesters appeared Friday despite the fact that at least 108 people were arrested in the original “liberated zone” Thursday afternoon.
University president Minouche Shafik said she “authorized” the NYPD to crack down on the encampment due to fears about community safety.
#TODAY Columbia University students continue to camp on the second University Lawn and are staying in “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” untill their demands are met.Video by Olga Fe Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/LT6f3yaj8k
“I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances. The individuals who established the encampment violated a long list of rules and policies,” she wrote in an email to faculty, staff and students.
Ahead of the police intervention, participants had been warned by the administration that they would be suspended pending investigation if they did not leave the site by 9 p.m. Wednesday.
“I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances. The individuals who established the encampment violated a long list of rules and policies,” she wrote in an email to faculty, staff and students.
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