NEW YORK / WASHINGTON: Columbia University demonstrators locked themselves inside a building on Tuesday, intensifying a confrontation with authorities. However, the White House chastised them for adopting “the wrong approach”.
After administrators started suspending protesting students for defying orders to leave the hall, demonstrators promised to stay until their demands were granted, among them that Columbia divest any financial holdings connected to Israel.
A wave of protests has engulfed US universities, with numerous people setting up tent camps on campus following the arrest of about 100 protestors at Columbia on April 18.
Police detained some protestors at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Tuesday morning as they cleared out one campsite.
Students at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond claimed to have seen police use tear gas and pepper spray while they were being pushed and shoved away by demonstrators on Monday night, according to TV footage.
Tuesday was a limited access day for residential students and critical staff at Columbia.
A graduate student protester, who preferred to only be recognized by the initials “Z,” said to AFP that “everyone is still working on their finals because it’s finals week.” But ultimately, education is a transitory institution.
However, John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House, criticized the activities, saying that the president thought it was completely inappropriate to take over a building on campus by force. That’s not how nonviolent protests are done.
He added that he was not aware of any proof of “bad actors” at the nationwide student protests, but there was no concerted attempt to mobilize the National Guard.
