A pro-Palestinian rally at Brooklyn College erupted in chaos on Thursday, with demonstrators and the police engaging in physical altercations, several people being arrested and one officer firing a Taser to subdue a man in the crowd.
The unruly scene followed the arrests of 80 people on Wednesday after pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupied part of Columbia University’s main library, prompting university officials to quickly call in the police.
The swift moves to crack down on the two protests reflect the enormous pressure that colleges across the United States feel from the Trump administration to quell pro-Palestinian campus unrest.
The disorder at Brooklyn College began around 6 p.m., as dozens of students and faculty members who had gathered to chant slogans and condemn Israel’s actions in the war in Gaza exited the college’s wrought-iron gates.
They had been on campus for several hours by then. Although tensions had grown through the afternoon, as college officials and security guards threatened to have the demonstrators arrested, the rally appeared to be ending peacefully. Two of the four tents someone had set up had been removed at the college’s request.
There were some small skirmishes as people went through the gates, and officers made a few arrests. The crowd walked on before pausing in front of the college’s Tanger Hillel House, where someone in the group gave a speech denouncing the building as a “Zionist institution.” Others held signs that said: “Israel has no right to exist” and “save Gaza.”