Columbia university protest: Over 100 students arrested in sickening antisemitic scenes

Faculty members formed a chain between cops and students before they were arrested (Image: Getty)

The NYPD has arrested more than 100 New York University students and faculty members after they set up an encampment on campus as part of ongoing protests demanding an end to the war in Gaza.

Student paper Washington Square News reported the protesters were cuffed with zip ties and then brought to police buses.

According to footage of the arrests shared online, faculty members formed a chain between the cops and the student protesters to shield them and were the first to be arrested.

The cops had ordered the crowd to disperse using a megaphone only minutes before they started to arrest demonstrators, warning they would be arrested for trespassing.

The NYPD also proceeded to take down tents the students had started erecting on Monday morning in what they dubbed the "Gaza Solidarity" encampment in Gould Plaza, which is within the NYU campus.

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Protesters had been warned earlier they would "face consequences" if they refused to leave the makeshift encampment.

The college paper reported that Campus Safety head Fountain Walker said: "With the breach of the barricades early this afternoon, that requirement was violated, and we witnessed disorderly, disruptive and antagonizing behavior that has interfered with the safety and security of our community.

"If you leave now, no one will face any consequences for today’s actions — no discipline, no police.”

The university had metal barriers erected over the weekend to keep the protest from growing in size but NYU spokesperson John Beckman claimed protesters not affiliated with the college had breached them.

Beckman said: "This development dramatically changed the situation.

"We witnessed disorderly, disruptive, and antagonizing behavior that has interfered with the safety and security of our community, and that demonstrated how quickly a demonstration can get out of control or people can get hurt.”

The university claimed people not affiliated with the institution had breached the barriers (Image: Getty)

He also said that several "antisemitic incidents" had been reported since the start of the demonstration but he declined to offer details.

The NYPD said the students and faculty members had been arrested for "disorderly conduct", and they cuffed even more people after a group of demonstrators tried blocking the street to stop their buses from leaving the scene.

NYU is one of several universities across the United States that have seen a surge in protests against Israel's ongoing bombing campaign in Gaza.

More than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia’s green were arrested last week.

Similar encampments have sprouted up at universities around the country as schools struggle with where to draw the line between allowing free expression while maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.

Protests have roiled many college campuses since Hamas’ deadly attack on southern Israel, when militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages.