Overnight, the anti-Semitic/pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia University was finally broken up after the NYPD outsmarted the barricaded protesters by breaching the second floor of occupied Hamilton Hall. But on Wednesday morning, the whining from ABC, CBS, and NBC was almost as bad as the shrieking coming from the terrorist sympathizers as they recounted the horror of the 100 people arrested without injury being loaded onto a bus for booking.
“We were standing right here late last night as more than 100 police officers descended on Columbia University,” announced ABC correspondent Stephanie Ramos on Good Morning America. She seemingly tried to downplay the illegal break-in and occupation of Hamilton Hall by noting it’s “a building with a history of student takeovers.”
Ramos spoke to a ridiculous college professor who didn’t even work at Columbia (she worked at Queens College) who praised the students for breaking the law to help stop a purported “genocide in Gaza”:
RAMOS: What were your thoughts about those student demonstrators that pitched tents and set up that encampment demanding that the university divest from companies profiting from Israel? What are your thoughts on that?
SUSAN BARANOWSKI: So, the students believe passionately in this cause and they're willing to break the all rules and risk sanctions to draw attention to the genocide in Gaza. And they are willing to come out here even though the university is punishing them for doing so.
There seemed to be a bit of emotion in the voice of correspondent Lilia Luciano during CBS Mornings. She recalled how she “saw dozens upon dozens of protesters in zip ties taken into city and police buses as their peers, protesters, and even faculty members cheered them on from the outside.”
Luciano sounded as though she was taken aback by the “Dozens of NYPD officers in riot gear” entering the university “through locked gates, others seen here coming through a second-floor window of the building occupied by demonstrators Tuesday night.”
She promoted an unnamed professor who was “upset” by the scene and who falsely asserted that “the military” had stormed campus to take the kids away:
LUCIANO: Many faculty members were outside like this professor we spoke to who was visibly upset over seeing so many students handcuffed.
UNIDENTIFIED PROFESSOR: I'm devastated that this is happening to every single campus in this country! By letting the military in, letting the police in! These are just students!
Over on NBC’s Today, correspondent Erin McLaughlin huffed that “dozens of police dressed in full riot gear entered the campus;” and touted that “Crowds gathered outside of the university chanting and booing.”
After griping about the “SWAT-style truck” used to circumvent the barricaded doors of the first floor and the 100 people taken into custody, McLaughlin played the now infamous clip of a Columbia student demanding the university give them “basic humanitarian aid” so they don’t “die of dehydration and starvation.”
Instead of laughing at it as most sensible people did, since it was ridiculous, McLaughlin treated it as a serious matter. And the chyron for the report read "police clash with college protesters" despite the fact the students were the aggressors who were breaking the law and threatening Jewish students.
The transcripts are below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Good Morning America
May 1, 2024
7:03:17 a.m. Eastern(…)
STEPHANIE RAMOS: We were standing right here late last night as more than 100 police officers descended on Columbia University. Police clearing Hamilton Hall, which is right behind us, a building with a history of student takeovers.
[Cuts to video]
Overnight, hundreds of New York City police officers in riot gear moving into Columbia University. SWAT teams rolling in, one-by-one police officers seen filing in on an extended ramp into the second floor of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall.
In the late night hours, police forming a line around the perimeter, clearing protesters, blocking the entrance. Once inside, going floor-by-floor, room-by-room. NYPD using flash banks.
At least 100 people arrested, led away, hands tied behind their backs with zip ties and loaded onto a police bus. The university president allowing the NYPD to move in, saying the group who broke into the building includes students but led by individuals who are not affiliated with the university, and that the administration was left with no choice.
(…)
7:05:08 a.m. Eastern
RAMOS: What were your thoughts about those student demonstrators that pitched tents and set up that encampment demanding that the university divest from companies profiting from Israel. What are your thoughts on that?
SUSAN BARANOWSKI: So, the students believe passionately in this cause and they're willing to break the all rules and risk sanctions to draw attention to the genocide in Gaza. And they are willing to come out here even though the university is punishing them for doing so.
(…)
CBS Mornings
May 1, 2024
7:04:28 a.m. Eastern(…)
LILIA LUCIANO: Yesterday, before police showed up here at Columbia, students received a shelter-in-place warning. Hours later, we saw dozens upon dozens of protesters in zip ties taken into city and police buses as their peers, protesters, and even faculty members cheered them on from the outside.
[Cuts to video]
Dozens of NYPD officers in riot gear entered Columbia University around 9:00 p.m. Some through locked gates, others seen here coming through a second-floor window of the building occupied by demonstrators Tuesday night.
The officers entered Hamilton Hall at the request of the university. Inside police cleared barricades, conducted multiple arrests, eventually clearing the building. Police also began clearing the tent encampment that had been the symbol of the protests on campus for nearly two weeks.
Then NYPD moved further north in Harlem toward a city college campus. We were there when dozens of officers breached a gate to clear the encampment and began arresting protesters.
Dozens more students were loaded onto city buses and detained by the end of the night. Many faculty members were outside like this professor we spoke to who was visibly upset over seeing so many students handcuffed.
UNIDENTIFIED PROFESSOR: I'm devastated that this is happening to every single campus in this country! By letting the military in, letting the police in! These are just students!
(…)
NBC’s Today
May 1, 2024
7:03:50 a.m. Eastern(…)
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN: The NYPD says it took them nearly two hours to clear Columbia University of protesters. I was there overnight as dozens of police dressed in full riot gear entered the campus. Crowds gathered outside of the university chanting and booing. This morning, police say more than 200 were arrested.
[Cuts to video]
Overnight, in New York City, a tense drama unfolding at Columbia University. Police in riot gear swiftly taking back a building occupied by antiwar protesters. NYPD officers using a SWAT- style truck to enter Hamilton hall by force.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: The building was very heavily fortified.
MCLAUGHLIN: Police video showing officers clearing the building, eventually taking about 100 people into custody.
(…)
7:05:38 a.m. Eastern
MCLAUGHLIN: Students there, before the police came in, asking Columbia to allow food into the building.
UNIDENTIFED PRO-HAMAS PROTESTER: Do you want students to die of dehydration and starvation?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So, it seems like you’re saying, ‘we wanted to be revolutionaries, we want to take over this building. Now, will you please bring us food and water.’
UNIDENTIFED PRO-HAMAS PROTESTER: Nobody is asking them to bring anything we're asking them to not violently stop us from bringing in basic humanitarian aid.
(…)
