The College Fix

Police arrest student who allegedly threw unlit Molotov cocktail from dorm window

Several pro-Palestinian students who chained themselves to gates at Columbia University were forcibly removed Wednesday during a protest against immigration officials’ detention of Mahmoud Khalil, according to the student newspaper and social media posts.

The campus also faced unrest Monday in a separate incident when a student allegedly threw a homemade firebomb from his dormitory window, the New York Post reports. It is unclear if the incidents are linked.

On Wednesday, Public Safety officers removed students from two different gates at the New York City university, first at a gate near St. Paul’s Chapel in the early afternoon, and then in the evening at another by Earl Hall, the Columbia Spectator reports.

Students chained themselves to the gates to support Khalil, a graduate student detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March. Immigration officials revoked his green card after Khalil helped to lead pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia, according to the AP.

In the early afternoon, university staff issued a warning before the officers removed the students who had locked themselves to the gate, according to the student newspaper:

Jessica Rentz, a University delegate, informed protesters that they were violating University policy preventing students from obstructing a University facility and took photos of all of the protesters’ Columbia IDs at around 1:20 p.m.

Public Safety officers cut the locks and forced protesters outside the gate at around 2 p.m. Protesters then sat down outside the gate and locked arms.

About two hours later, several student protesters used bike locks to chain themselves to another gate on campus:

At approximately 10:50 p.m., some protesters dispersed, with others remaining tethered to the gates. A University delegate distributed papers to demonstrators informing them they were “suspected to be in violation of the Rules of University Conduct.”

At roughly 11:15 p.m., Public Safety officers cut through the bike locks with bolt cutters and began removing each chained protester.

New York Police Department officers were present on both scenes, but the Public Safety officers, who are employees of the university, primarily handled the incidents, according to the reports.

One of the protesters, Maryam Alwan accused officers of manhandling students in a statement to the Spectator.

“Public Safety is not authorized to manhandle students,” Alwan said. “I was only chained to the gate for a few minutes and the University Delegates said that they would return shortly, yet Public Safety officer Bobby Lau beelined towards me with massive bolt cutters before I had the chance to leave.”

Also this week, the New York City Police Department said police arrested a Columbia student for allegedly throwing an unlit Molotov cocktail out of his dorm window. A Molotov cocktail is a homemade incendiary device, sometimes called a firebomb.

The student, Javen Jovero, 22, “sparked a panic when he filled a plastic bottle with rubbing alcohol and a sock and hurled it from a dormitory on the school’s East Campus” on Monday, the New York Post reports:

While no one was injured as the makeshift firebomb wasn’t lit, police received multiple 911 calls from worried students around 8:30 p.m.

Jovero — who wrestled for the Lions, according to the team’s website — was taken to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, police said.

The electrical engineering student and Southern California native was later charged with criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment, according to police.

Police have not linked it to the political turmoil that’s gripped the Manhattan school since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

MORE: Wisconsin professor on leave for allegedly flipping College Republicans’ table

IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Public Safety officers remove a pro-Palestinian student who chained herself to a gate at Columbia University. Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition/Instagram

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