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At least 75 people were arrested after a group of pro-Palestinian protesters stormed Butler Library at Columbia University, disrupting students studying for exams. According to university officials, some of those involved were not students, and two Columbia public safety officers were injured. FOX 5's Linda Schmidt has the story.
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with that breaking news on the campus of Columbia University. Good evening, I'm Natasha Verma
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And I'm Steve Lacey. Take a look at this video. Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters arrested
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after the university says they forced their way into Butler Library, interrupting students studying
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for exams. The mayor's office saying Columbia asked the NYPD to remove the demonstrators. Of
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course, this brings back memories of last spring's protests on campus at Columbia
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Fox News, Linda Schmidt covered those extensively and is back out live at Columbia tonight with the
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latest on these protests and the arrests that have been made. Linda. That's right. And here we
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go again. First of all, good evening to both of you. The NYPD telling me tonight that at least
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75 protesters were arrested here tonight. Now, the acting president of Columbia University saying
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she had no choice but to call in the NYPD because the takeover here at Butler Library, right here
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behind me, one of the rooms, it got violent. And the university believes that many of the people
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in that group, many of those people are not even students. Go ahead, take a look at this video here
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because this is some of the stuff that was posted on X today. Actual students, they were trying to
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study inside the library and they posted these videos on X. Now, one of the students that I spoke
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with by phone telling us that she was terrified. About 100 anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters
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stormed the library on campus late this afternoon. And then just outside the building, some students, actual students, clashed with the protesters
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Now initially the university newly formed public safety team of officers tried to handle the situation They arrested three of the protesters but two of the officers ended up getting injured Columbia acting president then called in the NYPD the
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department's strategic response group in riot gear, moved in and within a short amount of time
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arrested at least 75 protesters who had refused to leave, all of them wearing masks. They were then
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handcuffed and loaded onto NYPD buses. Now, Columbia issuing this statement saying in part
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quote, a large group of people attempting to force their way into Butler Library
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creating a safety hazard and what we believe to be the significant presence of individuals
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not affiliated with the university. Sadly, during the course of this disruption, two of our Columbia
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public safety officers sustained injuries. These actions are outrageous. She also goes on to say
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there will be disciplinary action against any of those who are students. Now, if you remember
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the Trump administration pulled hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding from
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Columbia University and told the university, if you want to get that money back, you have to crack
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down on anti-Semitism and the demonstrations that are going on here. Some of the things that
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the Trump administration told the university they needed to do was implement a ban on masks
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The university did that. Also, no more allowing anybody to take over any of the buildings on
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campus. And so there was a quick crackdown today, as well as establishing on-campus security
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that has the same arresting power as the NYPD. Back inside to you
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All right, Linda, thank you so much
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