Pro-Palestine protesters call NYPD 'KKK' at Columbia as police carry out arrests
NEW YORK - NYC pro-Palestinian protesters compared the New York City Police Department to the KKK and the Israeli Defence Forces as police carried out arrests at a large Columbia University demonstration on Friday afternoon.
Organizers on social media urged their followers to gather at 116th Street and Broadway at 3 p.m. "in solidarity with Palestine organizers and protesters attacked with skunk spray" at the campus on Jan. 19.
According to the New York Times, demonstrators were sprayed with a "foul-smelling chemical" in what the university calls "serious crimes, possibly hate crimes." An investigation is ongoing.
"NYPD, KKK. IDF they're all the same," protesters were heard chanting Friday in a video posted to X. Demonstrators were seen waving flags as officers walked by and patrolled.
"KKK" refers to the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist hate group known for targeting African Americans, Jews and sometimes Catholics.
The chant has reportedly been used in previous NYC pro-Palestinian protests.
FOX 5 NY cameras captured one arrest, though more have been reported.
The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has been the source of ongoing protests at colleges across the nation after Hamas' attack on October 7 that left over 1,000 people dead.
Since Israel's offensive began, more than 27,000 Palestinians have been killed and 66,000 wounded, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The conflict has also leveled vast swaths of the tiny coastal enclave, displaced 85% of its population and pushed a quarter of residents to starvation.