College protests live: NYPD reveals cop “unintentionally” fired gun while breaching locked office at Columbia

Administrators at the University of Wisconsin said they want an ongoing protest encampment torn down before finals begin next week.

They noted in a statement that talks with the protesters have stalled.

Demonstrators reportedly told school officials that ongoing discussions would be “pointless” if the school continued to refuse to disclose its investments.

Police cleared a protest at the school on Wednesday, but protesters returned.

The Columbia Law Review, one of the country’s most prestigious law journals, has called on Columbia Law School to cancel its final exams following the police raid on Tuesday that broke up weeks-long Gaza protests on campus.

The CLR’s Administrative Board Student Editors issued the statement on Wednesday, saying that students should be given passing grades for their “work throughout the semester” rather than their performance on a year-end test.

“The violence we witnessed last night has irrevocably shaken many of us on the Review,” the statement said. “We know this to be the same for a majority of our classmates. Videos have circulated of police clad in riot gear mocking and brutalizing our students.”

“The events of last night left us, and many of our peers, unable to focus and highly emotional during this tumultuous time. This only follows the growing distress that many of us have felt for months as the humanitarian crisis abroad continues to unfold, and as the blatant antisemitism, islamophobia, and racism on campus have escalated.”

Columbia University released a breakdown of the individuals arrested on Tuesday when police raided the occupied Hamilton Hall to disperse Gaza protests on campus.

The university said in a statement that “outsiders” were among those arrested. According to the school’s data, 13 of the protesters were adults who were not affiliated with the university.

“A significant portion of those who broke the law and occupied Hamilton Hall were outsiders,” a Columbia spokesperson said. “While 14 were Columbia undergraduate students, the majority were a mix of adults, including graduate students, two employees, and outsiders unaffiliated with Columbia University.”

The university said that it is still determining what disciplinary action will be taken saying “the occupiers violated various University policies, but more importantly, they broke the law. Actions have consequences.”

Columbia University released a breakdown of the protesters who were arrested during a Tuesday evening NYPD raid on Hamilton Hall, which demonstrators had occupied after defying the university’s 2pm deadline to disperse issued the previous day.

• 13 adults not affiliated with Columbia
• 6 students from other schools
• 23 Columbia students, including 14 undergrads and 9 graduate students
• 2 Columbia employees

The New School in New York, a private university, said it would hold its classes online following a police crackdown on protesters at the campus.

“We have been very tolerant of the students’ right to free speech as long as they did not interfere with the educational mission,” Donna Shalala, the school’s interim president, said in a statement on Friday. “Despite entreaties by the Dean of Students, members of the faculty, and student leaders, the protesters have refused to permit entry, which left the university no choice but to protect the rights of our students to access their residence hall, classrooms, library, and cafeteria.”

The NYPD arrested 44 students at the New School on Friday morning.

The NYPD held a press conference to address an errant bullet that was fired while officers were trying to clear protesters off of Columbia University’s campus on Tuesday.

New York City’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information, Tarik Sheppard, told reporters that the bullet was an accidental discharge and that the department averaged about eight accidental shots each year.

“Accidental discharges happen every single year and we average about eight a year and we don’t get request [for information] on it,” he said. “If you do ask about it, we’ll talk about it like we’re doing right now.”

The officer who fired the shot was said to be an 8-year veteran with an “impeccable” service record. The officer was reportedly trying to access a locked office to see if anyone was “hiding inside” and shifted his gun from his dominant hand to his off-hand. That’s when the errant shot fired. No one was injured in the shooting.

That officer will face department evaluation, according to the NYPD. The NY District Attorney’s office is also investigating.

Mr Sheppard said the department has no plans to release bodycam footage, citing department policy to withhold footage showing accidental shots that do not result.

The officer who fired the shot was a member of the Emergency Service Unit clearing protesters out of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall. The errant shot hit a door frame.

Annelise Orleck, a professor of history at Dartmouth University, said she was thrown to the ground by police during on Thursday night as law enforcement was cracking down on a Gaza protest at the campus.

Ms Orleck, who is Jewish, said New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu is spreading misinformation by characterising the protests as antisemitic.

“My message is stop weaponizing antisemitism,” she told WMUR.

Mr Sununu called the protests “100 per cent” antisemitic during a press briefing on Wednesday, WMUR reports.

“One hundred percent, this is pure antisemitism,” Mr Sununu said. “This is pure hatred. It is. And again, they have a right to express that. I’m disgusted by it, frankly.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters broke back into the Portland State University Library on Thursday evening, leading to police again entering and clearing the building.

Portland Police added that Portland State University’s Campus Safety detained one person.

“We can now confirm that trespassers did pull down the fence and broke back into the library. Police officers moved back into the library and made arrests. Arrests have also been made for people refusing to leave the park block at the library,” Portland Police wrote on X.

Thirty people had been arrested so far as of Thursday afternoon in connection to the pro-Palestinian protests on the campus of Portland State, according to the Portland Police Bureau. At least seven were PSU students, according to Portland Police.