NEW YORK (AP) — Barnard College’s library was evacuated Wednesday as police responded to a bomb threat during a sit-in staged by pro-Palestinian protesters.
The New York Police Department said on X, formerly Twitter, that a bomb threat was reported at the upper Manhattan college’s Milstein Center, which serves as the hub for academic life on campus.
The department said anyone refusing to leave the building during the evacuation would be subject to arrest. “Please stay away from the area,” the police said in its post.
The department said later that officers were still on the scene and that arrests had been made. But it was still unclear how many were in custody and what charges they faced.
Videos shared widely on social media showed protesters inside the building earlier Wednesday afternoon chanting, playing drums and hanging Palestinian flags on walls. Most wore kaffiyeh scarves and other coverings obscuring their faces.
Videos from Wednesday evening showed police entering the building wearing helmets and carrying zip ties and then later clearing the protesters and others from the lawn outside the building.
College spokespersons and a student group that had coordinated the protest didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Barnard President Laura Rosenbury denounced the protest earlier Wednesday.
“Our academic mission is at the heart of what we do, and disruptions to that mission are an affront to the purpose of higher education and cannot be tolerated,” she wrote in a message sent to the campus community. “We must not allow the actions of a few interfere with our mission. Campus activities outside of Milstein and throughout the rest of the campus are proceeding as normal.”
The group Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said on X that students launched their sit-in at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the Milstein library lobby in response to the expulsions of student protesters and other recent actions taken by school officials.
“Despite Barnard militarizing campus and inviting NYPD to patrol our academic buildings, we have successfully relaunched our sit-in against the expulsions,” the student group said on Instagram as they called for school officials to reinstate the expelled students.
Last week, pro-Palestinian protesters wearing keffiyeh scarves and masks pushed their way into the college’s Milbank Hall, which houses the offices of the dean, and assaulted a school employee, according to school officials.
Protest organizers said they dispersed after the administration agreed to meet with them over their demands, which included amnesty for all students disciplined for pro-Palestinian action.