On the morning of April 30th, student protesters occupying the Columbia University campus in the United States smashed doors, broke locks, and forcibly entered the Hamilton Hall teaching building. Various sectors have condemned Columbia University for not taking action to stop the escalating behavior of the students, thereby maintaining the academic order of the school. On Tuesday night at 9:32 pm, the “National Students for Justice in Palestine” confirmed on the “X” platform that anti-terrorism special police and the strategic response team of the police department had entered the Columbia University campus to clear the area.
Chinese political candidates expressed to NTD that the student protests at Columbia University and other American schools reminded them of the “terrifying” similarities to the Cultural Revolution in China.
Pro-Palestine demonstrators at Columbia University smashed windows, broke doors, and entered Hamilton Hall, barricading the entrances and hanging the Palestinian national flag outside the windows. They also brought furniture and metal barriers into the building and assaulted a student who tried to stop them. This building was also occupied by protesters during civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protests in 1968.
A spokesperson for the protesters, who did not dare to disclose their identity but claimed to be a female Columbia student, stated at a press conference that the occupation of the building “also represents the next generation of students who have been oppressed by Columbia in 1968, 1985, and 1999, but today we celebrate (victory).”
She further mentioned that they would not leave the building until the university agreed to the students’ three demands, which are for Columbia to divest from companies supporting the Israeli military, financial transparency, and amnesty for protesting students.
On Tuesday afternoon, about 500 protesters continued to march in the city, gathering in front of the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, holding Palestinian flags, and then heading to Penn Station.
Faced with the students’ unruly behavior, Columbia University only released a statement threatening to “suspend classes” for the rioters. In the following hours, various individuals voiced their condemnation, criticizing Columbia University for tolerating campus unrest events that support terrorists, saying, “It is time to end this!”
According to the New York Post, Mike Reilly, a Republican state assemblyman from Staten Island and former police official, stated, “It’s time to end this,” adding, “I believe that the mayor and the governor should have taken the risk and imposed the appropriate consequences on those who destroyed property and prevented students from attending classes,” and emphasizing the need for arrests.
Matthew Schweber, a member of the Manhattan Ivy League Jewish Alumni Association and a lawyer, angrily stated, “Over the past six months, the university has been paralyzed, faculty and staff have protected student rioters, and in some cases incited student rioters,” emphasizing the need to stop the violence that erupted, calling for an end to the tolerance of uprising on campus.
After Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist organization, carried out a terror attack targeting Israeli civilians on October 7th, resulting in thousands of deaths and hundreds of people being taken hostage, with many facing brutal treatment, the Israeli government and people retaliated resolutely by killing numerous Hamas members. Due to Hamas using civilians as shields, some civilians also died in Israel’s retaliatory attacks.
Following the Hamas terror attack on October 7th, a large number of pro-Palestinian individuals in New York City openly ripped down photos of hostages posted by Jewish people and did not hesitate to express their support for Hamas.
Congressman Adriano Espaillat tweeted, stating, “Vandalism and lawlessness do not align with American values, democracy, or peaceful protests,” adding, “Antisemitism should never be tolerated, and what we witnessed at Columbia yesterday was unacceptable.”
Lily Tang Williams, a Chinese-American congressional candidate from New Hampshire, warned during an interview with NTD that she saw frightening similarities between the campus unrest at Columbia University and other American universities and the Cultural Revolution in Communist China.
“This is a large-scale movement used as a weapon against American values and culture, which has been happening for some time,” Lily Tang Williams said, citing events from the widespread Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, criticism of Critical Race Theory and Antifa, to the current anti-Jewish movement under the slogan “From the River to the Sea.” She added, “Ask our children why they are protesting; they don’t know, but they all want to join this movement.”
She pointed out that there are organizations supporting communism and Marxism behind these movements, stating, “They are trying to overthrow America, which is very, very concerning.”
Williams warned that if America is destroyed by these “revolutionaries,” those who have escaped from communist countries like herself will have “nowhere to go.”