A mob of Columbia University radicals stormed a campus library Wednesday afternoon, forcing out dozens of students studying for their final exams.
Video footage shows around 100 masked radicals in dark clothing storming Butler Library, pushing their way past a campus security guard at the building’s entrance. Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD)—the Ivy League institution’s most anti-Semitic student group—took credit on social media.
Breaking news: masked protestors are taking over Butler Library in the middle of reading week. We hope this is addressed quickly and that University Rules are enforced so that everyone can go back to studying. @CUJewsIsraelis @CU_JewishAlumni @LishiBaker @shoshanaaufzien… pic.twitter.com/FMklVaGzUu
— columbiafsi (@columbiafsi) May 7, 2025
Once inside, the agitators passed out pamphlets that endorsed Hamas’s violence and chanted “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” “We want divestment now,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” using megaphones and banging on drums. They renamed the library after Basel al-Araj, a Palestinian terrorist killed in a 2017 shootout with the Israel Defense Forces.
The radicals also hung banners from bookshelves, one of which read “Glory to our Martyrs,” and vandalized desks with red graffiti reading “Free Palestine.” They littered the library with stickers that read “Release Mahmoud Khalil Now” as well as one of an upside-down triangle, which Hamas uses to denote military targets.
“COLUMBIA WILL BURN 4 THE MARTYRS,” read a vandalized library cabinet.
BREAKING: Public Safety officers are standing by. Protesters are chanting “min el-maiyeh lel mayieh, Falastin arabieh” (“from the river to the sea, Palestine will be Arab”). They’re draping banners from the bookshelves, distributing stickers and pamphlets glorifying Oct 7, and… pic.twitter.com/MPeQ6O0gRA
— Shoshana Aufzien🎗️ (@shoshanaaufzien) May 7, 2025
The radical activists also displayed a banner featuring a map of Israel, inscribed with the message “There is only one state: Palestine ‘48.”
CUAD posted its demands on X, which included Columbia’s “full financial divestment from zionist occupation, apartheid, and genocide,” an “academic boycott of all complicit institutions, including the cancellation of the Tel Aviv Global Center,” “cops and ICE off our campus,” and “amnesty for all students, staff, faculty, and workers targeted by Columbia University’s discipline.”
We reject an imperialist economy of knowledge. We evoke the legacy of liberation and the philosophy of direct action of Basel al-Araj.
OUR DEMANDS: pic.twitter.com/gwKVnowrXu
— CU Apartheid Divest (CUAD) (@ColumbiaBDS) May 7, 2025
The storming tests the resolve of Columbia’s acting president Claire Shipman, who promised to enforce the university’s new policies—including a requirement that anyone wearing a mask must show identification upon request or face disciplinary action. The policies were imposed as part of Columbia’s bid to restore over $430 million in federal funding that the Trump administration stripped from the university in March.
About 30 minutes into the occupation, Columbia officials blocked the doors and prevented the radicals from leaving unless they showed their identification. Failure to do so, they said, could result in arrest.
“If you fail to do so, you will be arrested for trespassing,” an official announced. “We are asking you one time, please produce your identification card and you will be allowed to leave without issue. If you fail to do so, you will be arrested or subject to arrest.”
In response, the mob tried storming the exit. Outside, more radicals tried pushing past security into the library, eventually pushing officials to handcuff the doors.
Happening now: Students are trying to storm Butler Library @Columbia
Let’s hope Public Safety can successfully keep them out this time around. pic.twitter.com/MyN551FPEw— columbiafsi (@columbiafsi) May 7, 2025
Public Safety has had to handcuff the doors of @Columbia’s Butler Library together because protestors can’t be trusted not to try to storm the entrance, leading to someone getting crushed. This is incredibly dangerous. pic.twitter.com/I2svLaxi9U
— Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students ✡️🇮🇱 (@CUJewsIsraelis) May 7, 2025
BREAKING: The mob outside is BLOCKING @Columbia public safety, yelling “fuck you” and “shut the fuck up” at the officers pic.twitter.com/FPkoGbzBAE
— Elisha (Lishi) Baker (@LishiBaker) May 7, 2025
Columbia issued a firm statement, pledging that “individuals found to be in violation of University rules and policies will face disciplinary consequences.”
“While this is isolated to one room in the library, it is completely unacceptable that some individuals are choosing to disrupt academic activities as our students are studying and preparing for final exams. These disruptions of our campus and academic activities will not be tolerated,” the statement read.
Students have been forced to leave Butler Library in the middle of finals studying due to protesters pic.twitter.com/zPv9U12IEY
— Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students ✡️🇮🇱 (@CUJewsIsraelis) May 7, 2025
Unity of Fields, a self-described “militant front against the US-NATO-zionist axis of Imperialism,” shared live footage of the occupation and library vandalism.
“LONG LIVE THE MILITANT INTELLECTUAL BASEL AL-ARAJ! INTIFADA EVERYWHERE UNTIL VICTORY! DEATH TO IMPERIALISM!” Unity of Fields wrote on X.
The agitators distributed Unity of Fields pamphlets that praised Hamas.
“Acts of resistance beget more acts of resistance. As the colonizer cracks down on those who fight him, the people must keep the flame alive, investing their blood and sweat into maintaining a baseline of resistance to prevent total collapse, while laying down the ground for future resistance,” read the pamphlet.
“Hamas began as a small brigade of non-professional fighters, and eventually grew into the force that can cause serious damage to the IDF, through piecemeal ‘investments’: small qualitative and quantitative improvements to equipment, training, and experience,” the pamphlet continued. “Not only that, but even small acts of resistance can improve the lives of ordinary people over generations.”
Last month, Columbia radicals abandoned their plans to launch an anti-Israel encampment after the Ivy League school warned that participants could face disciplinary actions, including arrest. Earlier in the semester, Columbia anti-Israel radicals stormed two Barnard College buildings, including a library.
