The protests broke out on Wednesday and Thursday outside Barnard College, which is affiliated with Columbia University. They came in reaction to the expulsion of two students who interrupted an Israeli studies class in January and distributed flyers containing what the university called “violent imagery.”

Four people were taken into police custody Thursday afternoon after the protest escalated out of control, the NYPD told the Washington Examiner.

One student said the masked protesters distributed flyers about “intifada and stamping on the Jewish star” in a statement to CBS News. Demonstrators yelled, “We must honor Palestine! Students, students, you will rise! Gaza is by your side!”

Three activists were arrested and charged, while the fourth was issued a court summons for disorderly conduct.

Megan Yang, who appears to be a Barnard College student, was charged with petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, while Ahmad Choudhury Mashud and Khan Furon were charged with obstructing governmental administration.

The four detainees were part of a demonstration that criticized what they called the “Zionist occupation” and demanded the college immediately reinstate the two students expelled in January for disrupting a class about Israel’s modern history.

The two unidentified students who were expelled were filmed distributing anti-Zionist handouts to students and plastering documents to walls that said “This is for Hind,” a reference to a child killed by the Israeli Defense Forces in 2024. Other signs distributed by the masked protesters said “Crush Zionism,” a reference to support for the Jewish state of Israel.

Some flyers depicted a boot stomping on the Star of David. Others said, “Burn Zionism to the ground.” Additional handouts featured illustrations of people brandishing guns alongside the words “THE ENEMY WILL NOT SEE TOMORROW,” showing an upside-down triangle — a symbol that Hamas has used to denote Israeli targets.

Barnard College President Laura Rosenbury addressed the January incident in a statement, warning students against “cultivating an environment” of “antisemitism, harassment, and discrimination.” 

“ … Central to our mission is cultivating an environment where antisemitism, harassment, and discrimination of any kind are unequivocally denounced as antithetical to our values,” Rosenbury said. “That is why we cannot, and will not, tolerate any disruptions in academic spaces. When uninvited visitors enter classrooms with the intention of interfering with learning—let alone when they target specific courses, communities, or individuals — they betray the very principles of intellectual exchange that underpin our community. “

The Thursday arrests came after over 50 pro-Palestinian activists took over a Barnard College building on Wednesday for nearly seven hours.

Robin Levine, Barnard College’s vice president for strategic communications, said a group of “masked protesters forcibly entered Milbank Hall and physically assaulted a Barnard employee, sending them to the hospital.”

“They encouraged others to enter campus without identification, showing blatant disregard for the safety of our community,” Levine said Wednesday. 

“It was frightening,” student Shoshana Aufzien said of the building occupation. “I think they should have called NYPD in the second it got violent.”

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Levine said the college has made “multiple good-faith efforts to de-escalate” tensions on the condition that protesters remove their masks.

“They refused,” she said.