Students hunkering down for finals at Columbia University’s Butler Library on Wednesday were interrupted by dozens of anti-Israel protestors who stormed the Lawrence A. Wein Reading Room and transformed it into a “Liberated Zone.” 

The student group behind the protest, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, instructed fellow student protesters to “bring noise, wear masks,” and gather in Butler library. Some 100 anti-Israel activists put aside their studies to answer the call. 

By mid-afternoon the masked protesters had stormed the library, setting up posters across the bookshelves — including one that paid tribute to an anti-Israel activist, Bassel al-Araj, who was killed by Israeli officers during a raid in the West Bank in 2017. However, they misspelled his first name as “Basel.” 

“BREAKING: THE BASEL AL-ARAJ POPULAR UNIVERSITY HAS JUST LAUNCHED, RECLAIMING BUTLER LIBRARY FOR THE PEOPLE,” the group wrote on X, alongside a video of the protest. 

The group’s demands, according to fliers posted on its social media, include a full financial divestment from Israel, a boycott on Israeli academic institutions, removing police from Columbia’s campus, and more. Videos of the protest shared online show the keffiyeh-clad students chanting, “Globalize the intifada,” and, “There is only one solution, intifada revolution.” Some vandalized the library’s shelves with spray paint and permanent markers.

The anti-Israel protestors soon began to clash with public safety officers who instructed them to provide ID and leave the library or face arrest. According to CUAD, at least one individual was arrested. Students uninvolved in the protest were not allowed to enter the library, even to collect their belongings, the Columbia Spectator reported. 

Amid the standoff, the anti-Israel group shared a defiant message on X: “As long as Columbia University bolsters the violence of empire, we will disrupt your peace and shatter your notions of control. If you escalate repression, we will escalate our disruption on this campus.” 

A few hours later, police arrested 75 protesters, rounding them up onto an NYPD bus on 114th Street. Columbia’s office of public affairs released a message condemning the protests, writing that “these disruptions of our campus and academic activities will not be tolerated” and that “individuals found to be in violation of University Rules and policies will face disciplinary consequences.”