Israel-Gaza war: Pro-Palestinian protesters take over Columbia University hall in escalation of US anti-war demonstrations

Footage showed protesters on Columbia’s Manhattan campus locking arms in front of Hamilton Hall on Tuesday, carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building

Protesters barricaded the entrances and unfurled a Palestinian flag out of a window in the latest escalation of demonstrations against the Israel-Gaza war

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Students with the Gaza Solidarity Encampment block the entrance of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University after taking over it on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Published: 8:06pm, 30 Apr 2024Updated: 10:39pm, 30 Apr 2024

Columbia University in New York has limited campus access to students and essential employees after anti-war protesters occupied a building.

Dozens of protesters took over Hamilton Hall on Tuesday, barricading the entrances and unfurling a Palestinian flag out of a window in the latest escalation of demonstrations against the Israel-Gaza war that have spread to college campuses nationwide.

Video footage showed protesters on Columbia’s Manhattan campus locking arms in front of the building 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 organisers shortly after midnight urged people to protect the encampment and join them at Hamilton Hall. A “Free Palestine” banner hung from a window.

Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine called for mobilisation. Protesters named it Hind’s Hall as an homage to Hind Rajab, who was found dead 12 days after she called for help in Gaza. Photo: AFP

“An autonomous group reclaimed Hind’s Hall, previously known as “Hamilton Hall,” in honour of Hind Rajab, a martyr murdered at the hands of the genocidal Israeli state at the age of six years old,” CU Apartheid Divest posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, early on Tuesday.