Barnard Faculty’s library was evacuated Wednesday as police responded to a faux bomb menace throughout a sit-in staged by pro-Palestinian protesters.
The New York Police Division stated on X, previously Twitter, that the menace was reported on the higher Manhattan school’s Milstein Middle, which serves because the hub for educational life on campus. The division stated anybody refusing to depart through the evacuation can be topic to arrest.
At about 8 p.m., police introduced on X that the incident was “investigated and cleared” and there was no menace to the general public. A spokesperson stated later that roughly 9 people had been taken into custody following the demonstration, although it was not instantly clear what costs they confronted.
Movies shared extensively on social media confirmed protesters contained in the constructing earlier Wednesday afternoon chanting, enjoying drums and hanging Palestinian flags on partitions. Most wore kaffiyeh scarves and different coverings obscuring their faces.
Movies from Wednesday night confirmed police coming into the constructing sporting helmets and carrying zip ties after which later clearing and detaining protesters and others from the garden outdoors the constructing.
Barnard President Laura Rosenbury denounced the protest earlier Wednesday.
“Our academic mission is at the heart of what we do, and disruptions to that mission are an affront to the purpose of higher education and cannot be tolerated,” she wrote in a message despatched to the campus neighborhood. “We must not allow the actions of a few interfere with our mission. Campus activities outside of Milstein and throughout the rest of the campus are proceeding as normal.”
The group Columbia College students for Justice in Palestine stated on X that college students launched their sit-in round 1 p.m. Wednesday within the Milstein library foyer in response to the expulsions of scholar protesters and different current actions taken by college officers.
“Despite Barnard militarizing campus and inviting NYPD to patrol our academic buildings, we have successfully relaunched our sit-in against the expulsions,” the coed group stated on Instagram as they known as for varsity officers to reinstate the expelled college students.
Final week, pro-Palestinian protesters sporting keffiyeh scarves and masks pushed their manner into the faculty’s Milbank Corridor, which homes the workplaces of the dean, and assaulted a college worker, in response to college officers.
Protest organizers stated they dispersed after the administration agreed to fulfill with them over their calls for, which included amnesty for all college students disciplined for pro-Palestinian motion.