Columbia students living at the growing pro-Palestine protest encampment in the university’s iconic Upper West Side campus spent Monday doing performative arts and reading poetry while sharing organic snacks.
DailyMail.com gained access to the ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’, which occupies the South Lawn, where around 100 tents have been pitched by students who are calling for the university to cease any Israel-linked investments.
The protesters have pledged to remain ‘until the demands are met’ even after more than 100 students, including the daughter of Squad member Ilhan Omar, were arrested on Columbia’s grounds last week after the university asked the NYPD to crack down on ‘trespassers’.
Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, claimed she was suspended by Barnard College, an institution within Columbia, and barred from campus after her arrest.
She was previously based at the encampment but did not appear to be present during Monday’s demonstrations.
The encampment was not removed during the police swoop. Instead, it was still buzzing on Monday while a separate pro-Palestine protest group faced off with a pro-Israel counter demonstration directly outside the campus on Broadway.
While the protest outside was led with loud cries of slogans including ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’, the mood inside was calmer, with groups enjoying the sunshine and laying in the tents they had pitched on the lawns.
Inside the encampment, where volunteers handed out face masks on entry, students have created signs and placards calling for Columbia to divest from Israel, with slogans including ‘Resist colonial power by any means necessary’.
A large whiteboard with the ‘program’ for Monday noted that it was ‘Earth Day’ and included an art class at 11am and a poetry reading scheduled for 5pm.
Students also set up a large makeshift canteen and buffet with snacks including bagels, organic nuts and grains, and fruit, with some even tucking into donuts from Dunkin’.
Catherine Elias, a graduate student and designated spokesman for the protesters, said they would stay ‘until the demands are met’.
‘It’s up to the university how long we stay,’ she said. ‘We will be here until we’re forcibly removed or the university meets our demands.’
‘Columbia has learned the hard way that when you try to silence us, when you try to repress us, the movement only grows.’
But not every member of the encampment was willing to talk, as one young woman wearing a face mask told DailyMail.com that she would not talk to ‘right wing press’ and that the reporter was ‘not welcome here’.
Among the crowds of pro-Palestine activists, many recognizable by their black and white keffiyeh scarves, two young Jewish students who were also inside the encampment expressed frustration that the lawn had been taken over.
Chaya Droznik, 22, a computer science student, and her friend, Jessica Schwalb, 21, who studies human rights, said they entered the enclosure to highlight the problems they say the protests have created on campus.
‘People are afraid to come here,’ said Schwalb. ‘I deserve equal access to this lawn but they try to prevent us from entering or try to evict us.’
Droznik, who wore a Star of David pendant on a chain around her neck, said Jewish students were made to feel ‘unsafe’ by the demonstrations.
‘There are people who have gone home, who have left because they don’t feel safe,’ she said.
A Jewish professor who wanted to enter the site today was told by police he could not go in because they couldn’t guarantee his safety.
On Monday afternoon, a large group of pro-Palestine faculty members staged a walkout and delivered speeches outside the university library, which overlooks the South Lawn encampment.
