Protesters barricade Columbia University building

NEW YORK / WASHINGTON: Demonstrators at Columbia University barricaded themselves inside a campus building on Tuesday, escalating a standoff with officials, but the White House chided them for using “the wrong approach”.

Demonstrators vowed to remain at the hall until their demands are met, including that Columbia divest all financial holdings linked to Israel, after administrators began suspending protesting students for failing to comply with an order to disperse.

Protests have swept through US higher education institutions, with many erecting tent encampments on campus grounds after around 100 protesters were first arrested at Columbia on April 18.

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, police moved in Tuesday morning to clear one encampment, detaining some protesters.

TV footage showed police at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond on Monday evening pushing and shoving away protesters, with students saying teargas and pepper spray was deployed.

On Tuesday, access to Columbia was restricted to residential students and essential staff.

One graduate student protester, who asked to be identified only as “Z,” told AFP: “It’s finals week, everyone is still working on their finals. But at the end of the day, school is temporary.”

But White House spokesman John Kirby denounced the actions, saying: “The president believes that forcibly taking over a building on campus is absolutely the wrong approach. That is not an example of peaceful protests”.

However, he said there was no active effort to mobilse the National Guard, adding that he was not aware of any evidence of ‘bad actors’ at the college protests sweeping the country.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2024