May 1, 2024 - US campus protests

Of the roughly 300 people who were arrested by New York Police Department officers inside and outside a Columbia University building, most of the arrests were people from City College, John Chell, the NYPD’s Chief of Department, said during a Wednesday news conference with city officials.

There are 282 arrests related to the break-in of Hamilton Hall, including 173 people from City College and 109 people from Columbia University, said Chell.

Chell said officials are still determining the exact number of those arrested who were unaffiliated with both universities.

New York Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban said the police department has responded to more than 2,400 protests across the city since October 7.

“Since the terrorist attack of October 7, the NYPD has responded to more than 2,400 protests and demonstrations across the city," Caban said speaking at a news conference Wednesday morning.

Of those protests, Caban said about 1,100 were related to the "situation in Israel and Palestine, and at every one we’ve worked to keep protesters safe and protect their first amendment rights.”

Some context: Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages in its October 7 attacks. Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed more than 34,000 people, according to its health ministry.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that there were outside individuals on Columbia's campus that raised concerns for authorities.

New York Police Department deputy commissioner Rebecca Weiner added that sifting through the names of individuals arrested to determine whether or not they're affiliated with the universities will "take time."

New York officers arrested about 300 people between Columbia University and the City College of New York campuses, New York Police Commissioner Edward Caban said during a Wednesday morning news conference.

Caban said preliminary charges range from trespassing to criminal mischief, as well as burglary.

"At this point, we'll let the criminal justice system play out," Caban said.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said during a Wednesday morning news conference the individuals who broke into the Hamilton Hall building on the Columbia campus included students but were led by individuals “who are not affiliated with the university.”

“They needed, the school needed the NYPD assistance to clear Hamilton Hall and the encampments outside a dual operation on the grounds that took place successfully, clearing the tents, taking back and reclaiming Hamilton Hall,” Adams said.

Adams said police are processing the arrests of roughly 300 people to “distinguish between who were actually students and who were not supposed to be on the ground.”

“These external actors with a history of escalating situations and trying to create chaos, not to peacefully protest, but create chaos,” the mayor said.

New York Mayor Eric Adams said New York City police entered Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.

He said police entered the campus, "to allow Columbia University to remove those who have turned a peaceful protest into a place where antisemitism and anti-Israel attitudes were pervasive," he said at a news conference Wednesday morning.

He added that approximately 300 people were arrested between Columbia and the City College of New York.

Law enforcement officers on Wednesday morning tore down tents at the University of Wisconsin, Madison's encampment, removing multiple protesters with hands behind their backs.

The standoff on the school's Library Mall, where students put up the encampment, comes as campus protests across the country become increasingly confrontational.

According to the university, the encampment at the UW-Madison campus violates school policy and a state law that was enacted by the legislature, limiting certain types of activities on campus.

Watch the scene:

House Speaker Mike Johnson slammed pro-Palestinian protesters on Columbia University’s campus as “common criminals" on Tuesday, reiterating calls for the Ivy League institution’s president to step down. 

“The first responsibility of a university administrator obviously is to protect the safety and security of their students,” the Republican from Louisiana said of Columbia University President Minouche Shafik in an interview on Fox News. “And she was unwilling or able to do it.”

Johnson visited Columbia earlier this month to meet with Jewish students as pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses coast to coast have been met with accusations of antisemitism and led to hundreds of student arrests.

The Republican, standing alongside fellow GOP lawmakers after his April 28 meeting with Shafik, called for her resignation should she be unable to reign in campus demonstrations amid loud boos from the crowd who listened.

“This is wrong – this is not protected free speech at all,” Johnson said of protesters who breached and occupied a campus building. “They are inciting violence.”

Johnson claimed the tensions on Columbia’s campus were “100% preventable,” arguing: “None of this should have happened.” He recalled telling Shafik to “get control of this situation” while meeting with her during his visit, calling on her to resign “if she could not do so.” 

He called on higher education administrators to “step up right now and stop the madness” and for US President Joe Biden to “speak right now with moral clarity." Johnson slammed the commander in chief as “MIA as usual” and “afraid to speak to the issue.”

The House is expected to vote Wednesday on bipartisan legislation targeting the rise in antisemitism that supporters say will confront vitriol on college campuses. 

The Daily Bruin, the college newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles, published an editorial on Wednesday morning accusing the school of failing to protect students as violence escalated on the campus. 

CNN has reached out to UCLA for comment.