A protester at Columbia University was arrested Wednesday night for repeatedly hitting and scratching an NYPD cop, according to law enforcement officials.
At least three other people were detained as the ongoing anti-Israeli movement turned violent at the Ivy League university, cops and sources said Thursday.
Christopher Briones, 30, allegedly got in the way of cops trying to arrest someone else on the Morningside Heights campus around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday and repeatedly exclaimed, “De arrest!” law enforcement sources told The Post.
He then struck and scratched the cop on the arm, causing cuts, the sources said.
Briones was charged with assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration, authorities said.
Jessica Knapp, 35, was busted when cops spotted her waving a 15-foot pole — and disobeyed orders to put it down, police said.
“You can’t have that object at a protest,” a police spokesperson said, adding that Knapp was charged with resisting arrest and reckless endangerment.
Miranda Levine, 26, was also charged with resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration during the protest, cops said.
A minor was briefly taken into custody, but then released to their guardian without being formally arrested and charged, according to police.
Another group of protesters may have also been taken into custody early Thursday morning, footage circulating online showed.
“Why are you doing this to me, I’m just standing on the sidewalk?” one person standing outside the campus gates at 116th Street and Broadway can be heard yelling at officers in a dramatic video shared by Status Coup News on X.
Multiple people wearing Palestinian keffiyehs were seen being grabbed by NYPD officers who appeared to be holding zip ties or other restraints, the footage showed.
“First they waited, then they started whispering and pointing and then the came over and target some people and arrested them,” a male witness told The Post.
“They tackled one to the ground. There were two guys and three girls,” he added
“The cops were aggressive. I don’t know why. It took 20 cops to arrest four people,” another protester said.
The protestors looked like they were behind a barricade on the sidewalk when the cops descended, witnesses said.
One woman claimed that she asked an officer why the group was being arrested and they replied “I don’t even know.”
Another video showed what looked like at least one person being loaded onto an NYPD Department of Corrections van outside the main gates.
The Columbia demonstration sprung up in the early hours of Wednesday, with hundreds of students protesting around almost 60 tents on the lawn outside Butler Library.
The protesters waved signs and chanted to demand that university officials divest from Israel in light of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
“Israel is a s–t state,” some bellowed on Thursday. “Israel is a fake state.”
Other chants included, “Brick by brick, wall by wall, Israel will fall,” “Brick by brick, wall by wall, Zionism will fall,” and “Israel, Israel what do you say, how many kids did you kill today?”
The showing was undeterred by the overnight rainstorm.
“They slept there. In spite of the rain they stayed there overnight. I think they are now occupying a different field as well,” a protester told The Post.
“There are two fields now because there’s a lot and they wanted to protect the ones that were originally there so they have started sleeping in other parts of the campus as well,” they explained.
People from around the university neighborhood were donating food to the protesters inside the tents, who periodically emerged onto the lawn.
NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, joined by Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry, strolled onto the campus through the Broadway and West 118th Street entrance.
“What’s up guys, how are you?” he greeted some officers on his way.
