CU Apartheid Divest held an “Emergency Protest” titled “No Safety Without Divestment” at 2 pm on Wednesday. The protest comes five days after the alleged chemical spraying that required multiple students to be hospitalized.

On Wednesday at 2 pm, Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) held a walkout at the Sundial titled “No Safety Without Divestment.” The protest comes days after the January 19 protest during which students were reportedly sprayed with the chemical “Skunk,” a malodorant used by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) against Palestinian protesters as a method of crowd control. 

In anticipation of Wednesday’s walkout, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) posted to their Instagram story that they “have upped [their] own security and have cameras everywhere recording everything.” In an Instagram story by CUAD, protesters were encouraged not to engage with any counter-protesters, noting that the organization had legal observers. Participants were advised to contact the protest’s “safety team” wearing orange fabric and neon hats. Finally, protesters were encouraged to film “if anything happens.”

Participants gathered around the Sundial, with many holding handwritten signs and Palestinian flags. Large banners read “No Safety Without Divestment,” “Demilitarize Education,” and “Teachers College Abolition Collective.” Several protesters also held signs bearing the logo of the United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW).

Protesters joined together in a series of chants, with several being about the events that transpired during the January 19 protest. These chants included “Minouche Shafik, what do you say, how many boots did you lick today?,” “Say it loud, say it clear, we don’t want no IOF [Israeli Occupation Forces] here,” and “from New York to Gaza, globalize the Intifada.” The term IOF is used in place of the IDF, as explained in a recent Instagram post by Columbia SJP and BC/CU Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Another recurring chant  “Minouche Shafik, you must pay. Medical bills are on the way,” referred to the various hospitalizations of students physically affected by the chemical spraying at Friday’s protest.

Many of the chants centered around wanting “IOF off campus now,” referring to the alleged perpetrators whom CUAD reportedly found to be former IDF soldiers. This chant comes after an Instagram post by SJP, claiming an alleged perpetrator was seen on campus Wednesday morning.

Between chants, student speakers addressed the crowd. One student reported that she was the first SJP member hospitalized after the Friday spraying. She spoke about how she was taken from her Barnard dorm to the hospital, stating, “If something happens to any of us… the blood will be on Columbia’s hands.”

Around 3 pm, the protest departed from the Sundial and participants began to march around campus, first moving to the pathway between Pulitzer and Butler lawns and then continuing to the front of Butler Library. Next, they marched to the pathway between Butler Lawn, Hamilton Hall, and the John Jay courtyard. As they did, students chanted, “If we don’t get no justice, then they don’t get no peace.”

Students at the front of the procession waved Palestinian flags, followed by individuals holding UAW signs. A crowd member held a sign reading “Land u have to kill for is not yours,” while another bore one reporting death totals from Gaza with the phrase “I’m OUT of space” at the bottom.

Protesters then moved to the stairs on the east side of Low Library, which had been barricaded so the upper level of campus was not accessible. The procession continued around the back of Low Library, descending the steps west of Low past Dodge Hall. As the protest continued around Low Library, faculty and staff began shutting the blinds to their offices. The protesters stopped in front of Lewisohn Hall, the location of the School of General Studies Lounge, and chanted, “Rosen-Metch [Dean of the School of General Studies], you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”

The protest made its way back to the Sundial as concluding chants and speeches were made. Here, protesters chanted, “Public Safety, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide.” The protest ended at 3:50 pm, at which point Public Safety reopened gates and removed Low Steps barricades.

“I think it’s ironic that campus looks like this… the gates, the closing the blinds [in Low]… the crowding of cops,” an anonymous protester told Bwog. “People are fighting for human rights—for others to have them. It’s unfortunate that they’re [Columbia] working against that but not surprising because [Columbia] was founded [on] and fueled by white supremacy.” 

Images via Bwog Staff