Pro-Palestine students occupy Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall as college begins suspensions

Protesters hang banners on the exterior of Hamilton Hall building after barricading themselves inside the building at Columbia University, after an earlier order from university officials to disband the protest encampment supporting Palestinians, or face suspension. Reuters

Jim Vertuno

Dozens of protesters took over a building at Columbia University in New York early Tuesday, barricading the entrances and unfurling a Palestinian flag out of a window in the latest escalation of demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war that have spread to college campuses nationwide.

Video footage showed protesters on Columbia's Manhattan campus locking arms in front of Hamilton Hall early Tuesday and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building, one of several that was occupied during a 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protest on the campus. Posts on an Instagram page for protest organizers shortly after midnight urged people to protect the encampment and join them at Hamilton Hall.