An insurrection at Columbia University, where a massive mob broke into an academic building, continued early Tuesday morning with the group rebranding the building and threatening further action.
Protests at the university took a major escalation after midnight when anti-Israel activists at Columbia's Manhattan campus dialed up their demonstration by taking over the iconic Hamilton Hall, an academic building used by the dean.
The unruly group gained access shortly before 1 a.m., and began "moving metal gates to barricade the doors, blocking entrances with wooden tables and chairs, and zip-tying doors shut," according to the student newspaper Columbia Spectator.
The group then placed a banner over the facility renaming it "Hind’s Hall," apparently after Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old who died during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, per a statement apparently from the group that was posted on X.
In the statement, the group confirmed they "reclaimed Hind’s Hall… in honor of Hind Rajab," who the group described as a "Gazan martyr." Hamilton Hall was named after famed Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.
Other buildings on the campus are similarly named after historical figures who contributed to America’s founding.
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"This escalation represents the next generation of the 1968, 1985, and 1992 student movements which Columbia once repressed yet celebrates today," the group, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, wrote in the post.
"Resistance is justified in the movement for liberation," it continued. "Liberators acting in solidarity with Palestine continue to hold themselves to a higher standard than Columbia."
It added: "Columbia has forced protesters to escalate by contributing to a genocide while refusing to follow baseline standards of conduct that make negotiation possible."
Columbia University has ruled out any divestment and has vowed to hold those who are protesting accountable.
Footage of the insurrection showed the protesters in New York smashing windows, unfurling a Palestinian flag over a window and chanting: "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" and "Palestine will live forever."
Outside of Hamilton Hall, the anti-Israel rebels form a human barricade by linking their arms and vowing to remain until the university meets their three demands.
On Monday, former President Trump weighed in about the anti-Israel demonstrations that continue to roil U.S. college and university campuses.
"Stop the protests now!!!" he said in an all-caps post.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
