NEW YORK — Columbia University called in the NYPD and cleared protesters from campus Tuesday, nearly two weeks after demonstrators set up a pro-Palestinian encampment on the school’s main lawn. 

Mayor Eric Adams said approximately 300 people were arrested when police responded to protests at Columbia and nearby City College of New York. The NYPD’s latest count has 282 total arrests, with 109 at Columbia and 173 at City College. It’s unclear how many of the arrests were students. 

“There is a movement to radicalize young people, and I’m not going to wait until it’s done and all of a sudden acknowledge the existence of it,” Adams said Wednesday, as he continued to blame so-called “outside agitators” for escalating the situation. “This is a global problem that young people are being influenced by those who are professionals at radicalizing our children.”

The mayor added, “We’re proud to say they have been removed from the campus.”

Protesters and their supporters moved to One Police Plaza overnight, where they waited for their fellow demonstrators to be released. As CBS New York’s Natalie Duddridge reported, they cheered each time someone came out, and the mood appeared to be celebratory, with food, supplies and music.

One protester from City College said it took several hours to be processed before he was charged with trespassing. 

“They did not listen, they proceeded with the arrests even though I complied with their orders to exit the campus,” he told Duddridge. “These are the marks from the zip-ties from how tight they were, bruising here. And this is because they pulled me down from an elevated surface.”

Columbia president calls NYPD onto campus

Columbia University President Dr. Minouche Shafik called police to campus after two weeks of talks with protesters. Officers arrested dozens of people, who the university said had occupied Hamilton Hall. 

“Once I became aware of the outside agitators who were part of this operation, as Columbia mentioned in their letter and their request with the New York City Police Department, it was clear we had to take appropriate actions,” Adams said earlier Wednesday in an interview with CBS Mornings, though he declined to go into specifics about those agitators.

A swarm of police started assembling outside the school around 9 p.m. Tuesday. Some entered campus on foot, while others used a large vehicle with an extended ramp to enter the building through a second-floor window. They pried open the doors, cleared furniture that had been stacked in stairwells and used flashbangs to disorient the protesters. 

In the end, Hamilton Hall was cleared, and two encampments on the lawn were dismantled. 

“The events on campus last night have left us no choice. With the support of the University’s Trustees, I have determined that the building occupation, the encampments, and related disruptions pose a clear and present danger to persons, property, and the substantial functioning of the University and require the use of emergency authority to protect persons and property,” the president wrote in her letter to police.

“With the utmost regret, we request the NYPD’s help to clear all individuals from Hamilton Hall and all campus encampments. As part of this process, we understand that the NYPD plans to use its LRAD technology to inform participants in the encampments that they must disperse.”

University officials said they believe the group that broke into the building was led by people who are not affiliated with the school. Administrators said they were forced to call police after protesters chose to escalate the situation by occupying the hall and threatening a member of the facilities team in the process. 

Columbia’s president asked the NYPD to maintain a presence on campus until May 17, after the school’s May 15 commencement, to make sure the encampments are not re-established. 

Christina Fan

Christina Fan joined CBS2 News as a general assignment reporter in spring of 2019.