Riot police were seen surrounding the Columbia University protest encampment after the pro-Palestine protestors refused to move out of the campus, according to the New York Post.
Negotiations are on between the university authorities and the protesting students amid the tense stand-off. This encampment came up after the first set of protest tents were removed after the crackdown on April 18.
Columbia University said protesters “have committed to dismantling and removing a significant number of tents”. A smaller encampment remained on the Upper Manhattan campus on Wednesday morning, according to The Associated Press.
The protesters at Ivy League university in New York were given a deadline to move out, which they missed. The authorities then extended the deadline by another 48 hours.
The Columbia University statement said student protesters “will ensure that those not affiliated with Columbia will leave. Only Columbia University students will be participating in the protest”.
The NYPD riot police maintained a presence around the campus throughout the night, cautioning protestors to maintain decorum to avoid arrest, reported the New York Post. The cops were also advising demonstrators to lower the volume and refrain from striking barricades.
Approximately a dozen riot police were stationed near the main campus entrance on Wednesday morning, keeping an eye on 20 protestors outside the main camp area amid light rain.
Protesters at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, some 480 kilometres north of San Francisco, were also bolstering their encampment, according to the Associated Press.
The students were using furniture, tents, chains and zip ties to block a building’s entrances. The pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests have spread to a dozen top American universities across five states.
The campuses of New York University (NYU), Yale University, UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, Emerson College, and Tufts University have seen protests in solidarity with the police action on protesting students on April 18.