Masked anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University demonstrate as students check in for first day of classes
At least 2 arrested, statue vandalized with red paint at Columbia University
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Masked anti-Israel protesters are demonstrating on Tuesday outside of one of the entrances to Columbia University, chanting, "Free Palestine!" and holding signs urging the Ivy League school to "divest from death" as students are trying to get to their first day of classes.
The demonstrations come after a series of protests rocked the New York City-based university this past spring, which generated worldwide media attention and more than 100 arrests. The anti-Israel activity also comes just days after Hamas killed six hostages, including 23-year-old Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Hamas had been holding them captive – and continues to hold nearly 100 others – since they carried out terror attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
At least one protester was captured on video being arrested on Tuesday while other demonstrators were observed pushing barricades and getting into a scuffle. A second male individual was then taken into custody outside Barnard College, which is across the street from Columbia.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The demonstrations began as peaceful, with protesters walking around in a circle on a sidewalk near one of Columbia’s entrances in Upper Manhattan.
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An anti-Israel protester is seen being arrested near Columbia University on Tuesday, Sept. 3. (Fox News)
"We refuse to live in a world where the mass murder of Palestinians is normal, acceptable, and profitable. Columbia University is complicit in genocide," the group Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine wrote on X. "Their investments in weapons manufacturers & defense contractors, companies such as Lockheed Martin, are fueling the genocide."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate outside Columbia University on Tuesday, Sep. 3, 2024 in New York City. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)
"As we begin our new semester, students in Gaza have no universities to return to. Instead of listening to the student body, Columbia University is doubling down. We will not stop and we will not rest until Columbia divests from apartheid and genocide," it added. "This is just the beginning."
The "Alma Mater" statue at Columbia University, located outside the Ivy League school's Low Library, is seen covered with red paint on Tuesday, Sept. 3. (WNYW)
Columbia University did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
One protester was seen carrying a sign that said "Long live Hind's Hall." In late April, an anti-Israel mob broke into and occupied Hamilton Hall on Columbia University's campus. The group then placed a banner over the facility, renaming it "Hind’s Hall," apparently after Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old who died during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
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The demonstrations on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024 come following protests that happened in the spring semester that resulted in the occupation of a building and more than 100 arrests at Columbia University. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)
One student at the scene told Fox News reporter Alexis McAdams that "we are here because there is still an ongoing genocide that the United States is materially and politically responsible for."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}People are seen falling to the ground during a scuffle at Columbia University during the anti-Israel protests on Thursday, Sept. 3. (Fox News)
When asked if he thought protests would start emerging at Columbia University this semester, the student said, "We have been very clear that will not stop until Columbia has divested from its complicity in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people, that’s all I have to say."
Fox News’ Sandy Ibrahim, Lawrence Richard and Alexis McAdams contributed to this report.