Video: Newly released NYPD bodycam footage shows police breaching Columbia's Hamilton Hall, confronting protesters
Hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested over the past 24 hours in a wave of protests across U.S. universities, with the majority of these arrests taking place at Columbia University in New York on Tuesday night.
NYPD bodycam footage, first obtained by CNN Wednesday, shows the moment police breached Hamilton Hall and confronted pro-Palestinian protesters organizing against the war in Gaza.
The video shows law enforcement, outfitted in tactical gear, approaching the front door of Hamilton Hall, which was barricaded by a tangle of chairs, metal tables and chains.
Students near the entrance were heard singing a protest song.
"We shall not be moved."
Police had to break a window to gain access.
Beyond the vestibule, more furniture and debris were found.
The next door was also chained shut.
Police used a high-powered electric saw and a hydraulic tool, the jaws of life, in an attempt to breach the door.
Video below: Police clash with protesters at University of Wisconsin
But it wouldn't budge.
"Free free Palestine," echoed from within the barricaded building.
Unable to see beyond the barricades, police deployed "distraction devices" upon entry.
These devices, with loud bangs and blinding flashes, were used to disorient anyone who might have posed a threat.
It took six minutes and forty seconds to breach the layers of barricades and reach the protesters who had been holding the building.
As one protester appeared to advance towards police, a second protester wrestled him to the ground.
Police advanced upwards through the building, finding more locks, chains, barricades, but no more protesters.
The police are currently working with Columbia University to determine how many of those inside Hamilton Hall were students.
