Police and private security throng every entrance but one. Steel barriers line the streets. Students pack up belongings in their cars and leave for home - classes are cancelled, and exam plans are up in the air.

Everywhere there is gloom, and uncertainty about what happens next at Columbia University.

Students told the BBC that the university’s decision to call in police to clear a Gaza protest late on Tuesday, leading to a raid on the occupied Hamilton Hall and hundreds of arrests, has left the college community shattered.

The university president, Nemat Shafik, said that it was with great regret that she ordered the police raid against students and others she said had infiltrated the protest. It would “take time to heal”, she added in a message in the operation’s aftermath.

For students of this prestigious school in Manhattan, New York, how long is unclear.

    • @Woozythebear
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      -18 months ago

      So the solution was cops who broke a ton of windows and doors then beat a bunch of college students all with your tax money?

      • @[email protected]
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        fedilink
        28 months ago

        Is that what I said? If I reiterate my exact words would that be enough for you or are you gonna read into that too?

        • @Woozythebear
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          -18 months ago

          You were implying it and are now acting dumb and innocent.

          • @[email protected]
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            fedilink
            28 months ago

            The person I replied to said that someone “lied about smashing windows.” I replied saying that that part was actually true. You don’t argue about police brutality by lying and denying what actually happened, that’s how you get people reading to dismiss your points.