NYPD: 150 arrested at New York University amid pro-Palestinian protests

(NEW YORK) — More than 150 people were arrested at New York University on Monday night, police said, as pro-Palestinian protests spread on college campuses throughout the country.

Students, faculty and others were arrested after school officials asked the New York Police Department for help clearing a plaza on NYU’s Manhattan campus, police said. Many of those arrested were “still being processed through the night and most if not all will be released,” the department said.

The arrests came days after more than 100 people, including many students, were arrested while protesting at Columbia University. Protests have grown at other schools, including Yale University, since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.

“There is a pattern of behavior occurring on campuses across our nation, in which individuals attempt to occupy a space in defiance of school policy,” Kaz Daughtry, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for operations, said in a social media post. “Rest assured, in NYC the NYPD stands ready to address these prohibited and subsequently illegal actions whenever we are called upon.”

Protesters at NYU on Monday broke through barriers that had been set up around Gould Plaza, a square outside the Stern School of Business, the school’s Global Campus Safety department said in a statement.

Officials warned those who’d entered the square on Monday that they needed to clear the plaza by 4 p.m.

“If you leave now, no one will face any consequences for today’s actions—no discipline, no police,” safety officials said in a message delivered to those in the plaza. 

That message was also shared on the university’s official social media channels.

“The one safety requirement we made was that no additional protestors could enter Gould Plaza,” the message said. “With the breach of the barricades early this afternoon, that requirement was violated, and we witnessed disorderly, disruptive, and antagonizing behavior that has interfered with the safety and security of our community.”

NYU officials appealed to the NYPD for help, according to a letter shared by Daughtry, the NYDP deputy commissioner.