Students from at least a dozen college campuses across the city are planning a walkout Monday as the city braces for a day of protests on the anniversary of the Israel-Gaza war.
The protests are set to come on the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 surprise attack on Israel, which killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures. Hamas took 251 hostages back to Gaza, and a year later, some 64 are still detained, while 117 have been freed and 70 confirmed dead.
Israel, in turn, launched an invasion that has since resulted in the deaths of more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of whom were women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
On Monday, students involved in the walkout plan to head to Washington Square Park before joining a larger citywide protest organized by the pro-Palestinian group Within Our Lifetime.
On Friday, a CUNY spokesperson said in a statement that school officials are working closely with law enforcement and others in government “to safeguard our students’ right to a safe learning environment.”
“The university has also deployed additional private officers to campuses to provide support and issue guidance on demonstrations to college presidents and deans ahead of Oct. 7,” the statement reads. “CUNY has strict policies in place to protect all our community members and expects students to exercise their right to express themselves responsibly and respectfully.”
Columbia University students, flyers show, are planning to leave class a few hours before the main protest for the steps of Low Library. The Morningside Heights campus remains closed to the public and accessible only to ID holders and pre-authorized guests.
“I appreciate that, across our diverse community, individuals and groups have had very different experiences over the past year. The terror attack on Oct. 7 and the ensuing war have affected us all, some more personally and more intensely than others,” Columbia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, wrote in an Oct. 1 announcement. “We must all come together to provide the space for people to mourn and to provide the grace required for every one of us to live through this time in an atmosphere of respect and support.”
Armstrong replaces former university president Minouche Shafik, who resigned after coming under fire for her handling of several weeks of tense pro-Palestinian protests this spring.
In April, Shafik summoned the NYPD to clear an encampment that she said posed a safety risk, sparking a national wave of antiwar college protests. When a smaller group of protesters who returned to the lawns occupied Hamilton Hall, she again called the police to break up the protests. Several protesters were injured and an officer accidentally discharged his firearm inside Hamilton Hall.
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik visits Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University on May 1. (Photo by Indy Scholtens/Getty Images)
Representatives of NYU did not return a request for comment.
Mayor Adams on Saturday called the anniversary of Oct. 7 “extremely significant” to the city, particularly its Jewish community.
“The largest Jewish population outside of Israel is here in New York,” he told he Daily News. “We’re going to make sure that people are able to acknowledge the pain of that day without any interference and making sure that those who want to peacefully protest, they can do so peacefully. We are not going to tolerate violence or acts of disruptive destruction of property.”
“It’s a very painful day for not only for Jewish New Yorkers but all New Yorkers that witnessed what happened,” he added. “I said over and over again, Hamas must be destroyed, every hostage must be returned home, and we should bring peace in that region so that innocent children and families are not hurt.”
As the anniversary approaches, and in the wake of Tuesday’s missile attack on Israel by Iran, NYPD cops added additional cameras at key locations around New York City and brought 21 recently graduated K-9 dogs to check sensitive locations daily, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner said last week.
Cops say they have heard of no specific threats against New York City so far in light of the Oct. 7 anniversary. But last month a 20-year-old man was stopped at the Canadian border and accused of planning to carry out a mass shooting at a Brooklyn Jewish center.
Over the next few weeks, city residents are expected to see more heavily armed “Hercules” teams of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit and uniformed officers in marked police vehicles at Jewish institutions, synagogues and foreign consulates along with busy public places like Times Square and Central Park, NYPD officials said last week.
At the same time, the NYPD Intelligence Bureau plans to stay in contact with its overseas liaisons, getting real-time information on the conflict in the Middle East and reviewing chatter on social media for possible terrorist attacks.