Tehran, IRNA — Over 100 pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested on the campus of New York’s Columbia University as police cleared an encampment set up by students demonstrating against Israel’s war on Gaza, media outlets have reported.
Several students involved in the protest said they were also suspended from Columbia University and its associate institution, Barnard College. They include Isra Hirsi, who is the daughter of Ilhan Omar, a Democrat in the United States House of Representatives, Al Jazeera reported on Friday.
The president of Columbia University warned, in a statement on Wednesday, that the students would face suspension if they did not pack up their tents. He announced that university officials decided on Thursday to seek police assistance in order to disperse the protesters.
Columbia, one of the most prestigious universities in the United States, has emerged as a center for student activism since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza more than six months ago.
Israel’s assault on Gaza, which has martyred at least 33,970 people, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, began after Hamas launched a surprise October 7 operation dubbed "Al-Aqsa Storm" on the Zionist regime.
