Pro-Palestinian protesters take over building at Columbia University

NEW YORK - Pro-Palestinian activists occupied a building at Columbia University on April 30, escalating a battle with administrators who have begun suspending students for refusing to dismantle tents set up on the New York campus.

Protesters entered Hamilton Hall and suspended a banner reading "Hind's Hall" from an upper floor.

Others outside blocked the doors with outdoor tables and linked arms to form a barricade in front.

"This building is liberated in honour of Hind, a six-year-old Palestinian child murdered in Gaza by the Israeli occupation forces funded by Columbia University," a protester shouted from inside, with those outside repeating each phrase.

The White House denounced the takeover as "absolutely the wrong approach" that is "not an example of peaceful protest".

Mr John Kirby, a spokesman for President Joe Biden, told reporters: "A small percentage of students shouldn't be able to disrupt the academic experience and the legitimate study for the rest of the student body. Students paying to go to school and wanting an education ought to be able to do that without disruption." The takeover of Hamilton Hall began shortly after midnight, as protesters marched around campus to chants of "free Palestine".

Within 20 minutes, protesters had seized the hall, a 118-year-old building that has been at the centre of campus protests dating back to the 1960s.