NEW YORK — Charges had been dropped Thursday towards many of the Columbia University college students and employees who had been arrested inside Hamilton Hall throughout pro-Palestinian demonstrations again in April.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office introduced that of the 46 individuals charged with trespassing, 31 instances had been dismissed as a consequence of an absence of proof. The DA’s workplace stated surveillance cameras contained in the constructing had been lined and that no cops had been injured through the arrests.
Prosecutors instructed 14 others that their instances could be dropped in the event that they keep away from getting arrested within the subsequent six months, however they rejected that provide, the DA’s workplace stated. Of these 14, solely two are college students, prosecutors stated.
A fifteenth defendant whose trespassing cost was not dropped can be dealing with unrelated expenses of burning a flag throughout a Columbia protest and breaking an NYPD digicam whereas detained in a holding cell, the DA’s workplace stated.
A bunch of Columbia college students spoke outdoors Manhattan prison court docket Thursday to handle the dropped expenses.
“The state has tried as soon as once more to divide us, dismissing a few of our instances and providing others offers in accordance with their outdoors agitator narrative,” one pupil stated. “As ever, we categorically reject this division as one drawn alongside arbitrary, classist traces meant to protect the sanctity of Columbia University, not an establishment within the metropolis of New York, however at all times above and aside from it.”
The college students and employees who’re now not dealing with prison expenses nonetheless must cope with ongoing college disciplinary proceedings, prosecutors stated.
The DA’s workplace stated, nevertheless, that it’s persevering with to pursue instances involving assaults towards cops.
The arrests ended two weeks of demonstrations at Columbia University, as college students referred to as on the college to divest from corporations doing enterprise with Israel. Protesters had arrange an encampment on the college’s essential garden, and a few compelled their means inside Hamilton Hall after discussions with college officers broke down.
Columbia University President Dr. Minouche Shafik then requested the NYPD’s assist to clear the corridor.
