New York police escorted protesters out of the Columbia University building

Police escorted 30 to 40 people out of the university building overnight, the AP and CNN and BBC reported. No one was injured during the incident, police told CNN less than two hours after officers entered the campus. The BBC writes that they apparently also cleared the nearby protest camp.

The police acted at the request of the school. CNN reported on dozens of detainees. The university announced restrictions on access to the campus on Tuesday after student protests against Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip escalated there. Dozens of people occupied Hamilton Hall the night before in an attempt to force the severance of all financial ties to Israel.

Columbia University said police entered the campus after 9 p.m. local time on Tuesday (after 3 a.m. CEST today) at the school’s request. “This decision was made to restore safety and order in our community,” the university said, adding that it had no choice given the occupation of the building by protesters. “We believe the group that entered and occupied the building is led by individuals not associated with the university,” the school said.

Several dozen protesters ended up in a police bus. The media note that it is not yet clear how many people the police have detained so far. The university has now asked the police to remain on the campus until at least May 17, after the graduation ceremonies, and ensure that the protesters do not resume the protest camp.

The crisis at the prestigious university, whose pro-Palestinian students inspired protests at colleges across the United States, has been going on for nearly two weeks. The original “Gaza solidarity camp” at Columbia University was cleared by the police on April 18, but the first wave of arrests and study interruptions only escalated tensions, and a new tent city soon sprung up on the university campus in northern Manhattan.

The police have intervened against demonstrators at American universities in connection with similar protests before, hundreds of people have ended up in custody in the last two weeks, some after clashes with the police. The AP reports more than 1,000 arrests on campuses across the United States.