Hundreds of riot police entered the Columbia University campus to break up a student protest demanding a ceasefire in Palestine.

Dozens of elements entered Hamilton Hall using escalators and wire-breaking equipment.

Earlier, police used tear gas to prevent the building from being taken over, the report said. The newspaper “New York Times.

The occupation began at night when protesters broke windows and took over Hamilton Hall, where they unfurled a banner reading “Hinds Hall,” symbolically renaming the building in honor of A six-year-old Palestinian girl was killed in Gaza by the Israeli army.

Outside the eight-story neoclassical building that housed several student classes on the Manhattan campus in the 1960s, protesters blocked the entrance with tables and joined hands to form a formation. barricade and chanted pro-Palestinian slogans.

At an afternoon news conference, Mayor Eric Adams and city police officials said the storming of Hamilton Hall was incited by “outside agitators” who have no connection to Columbia and are known to authorities for their provocative actions. anarchy.

Police said their findings were based in part on the occupation’s escalating tactics, including vandalism, the use of barricades to block entrances and the destruction of surveillance cameras.

According to Reuters.