Columbia protesters occupy Hamilton Hall as university standoff escalates
Al Jazeera
Demonstrators take over Hamilton Hall in escalation of US antiwar protests.
Students have taken over a building at Columbia University as the standoff escalates between university authorities and protesters against Israel’s war on Gaza.
Protesters moved to occupy Hamilton Hall at the university in New York early on Tuesday after the management said it had begun suspending students who had refused to meet a deadline to disperse on Monday. The move threatens to escalate the standoff, which has seen protests over Israel’s war on Gaza – in which Israel has killed more than 34,400 Palestinians – spread across the country.
Video footage showed protesters on Columbia’s Manhattan campus locking arms in front of Hamilton Hall early on Tuesday and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building. Dozens of protesters barricaded the entrances and unfurled a Palestinian flag out of a window. A student organiser who spoke to Al Jazeera said that the group that had occupied Hamilton Hall was separate from the group encamped on the campus lawn.
The protesters who have entered the building now face expulsion.
Hamilton Hall, which protesters said they have now dubbed “Hind Hall”, is one of several buildings that were previously occupied during a 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protest on the campus.
Ukrainian source reportedly says the killing ‘was a ‘special operation” by Ukraine’s SBU security service.
Russia and North Korea have not commented on Ukraine’s claim some 30 North Korean troops have been killed or injured.
Israel’s military says it is targeting military sites in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Ahmed Allouh is the third journalist killed in Gaza in the last 24 hours.
Remaining displaced, many women and children, reportedly being forced out of Khalil Oweida School by Israeli forces.
Israel launches deadly strikes across the Gaza Strip amid regional diplomatic push for ceasefire and captives deal.
Two separate reports by media freedom organisations found Israel killed an unprecedented number of journalists.
Tomb of Hafez al-Assad, father of removed president, torched as new PM pledges peace after 13 years of war.
Health Ministry warns patients could die from lack of food, water as UN official briefs Security Council on conditions.
As Syria’s longtime leader gets shelter in Moscow, analysts say Russia’s Middle East ambitions are likely to continue.
In 2024, about half of Syria’s registered refugees live in Turkiye, followed by Lebanon, Germany, Jordan and Iraq.