Columbia University students respond to request to vacate encampment | News

Hundreds of students have refused to disperse from pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University after the school set a deadline for them to leave or face suspension.

Columbia University’s president said on Monday (29 April) that talks with protesters who began camping on the Ivy League campus two weeks ago had failed.

In a letter, the school warned of interim suspensions for all students who do not voluntarily leave the protest by 1400 EST.

Dozens of protesters gathered to march around the encampment as the deadline elapsed on Monday afternoon.

Responding in a press conference, students called the attempts to make them leave “repulsive scare tactics”.