DOZENS of pro-Palestine protesters have been arrested after they occupied part of the main library at Columbia University in New York. 

Demonstrators pushed their way into Butler Library on Wednesday, with videos posted on social media showing many wearing keffiyehs and face coverings as they chanted and defied restrictions imposed by the Trump administration following a wave of campus protests last year.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the visa statuses of those involved would be reviewed.

In a statement posted online, the protesters accused the university of “violent repression” and said they had refused to present identification to police or campus safety officers.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which has been at the forefront of pro-Palestinian student activism on campus, said it had occupied the library in protest at the university’s ties to Israel. 

“Over 100 people have just flooded [into] Butler Library and renamed it the Basel al-Araj Popular University,” the group said, referencing the Palestinian writer and activist who was killed by Israeli forces in 2017.

“The flood shows that as long as Columbia funds and profits from imperialist violence, the people will continue to disrupt Columbia’s profits and legitimacy. 

“Repression breeds resistance – if Columbia escalates repression, the people will continue to escalate disruptions on this campus.”

Acting university president Claire Shipman condemned the protest as “completely unacceptable” and said university officials had called the police after demonstrators refused to leave or show identification. 

“Disruptions to our academic activities will not be tolerated and are violations of our rules and policies,” she said in a statement.

“Columbia strongly condemns violence on our campus, anti-semitism and all forms of hate and discrimination, some of which we witnessed today.”

The New York Police Department confirmed that “multiple individuals who did not comply with verbal warnings” to leave had been taken into custody. 

Local radio station 1010 WINS reported around 80 arrests.

Columbia, one of the most prestigious universities in the United States, has become a flashpoint for student protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which have taken place on more than 100 US campuses since late 2023.

Wednesday’s incident was the first time that the university has called the police to respond to an on-campus protest since April last year, when students occupied Hamilton Hall for nearly 24 hours.

Columbia has been a particular target of President Donald Trump, who has accused universities of fostering anti-semitism and failing to protect Jewish students. 

His administration has threatened to withdraw $400 million (£300m) in federal funding from Columbia and warned that students involved in earlier protests could be deported.

In March, the university conceded to several administration demands, including a ban on masks at demonstrations and a change in oversight of some academic programmes.

The Trump administration has warned more than 60 universities that federal funding may be cut if allegations of anti-semitism are not addressed.

On Tuesday, Mr Trump also terminated $2.2 billion (£1.65bn) in federal funding for Harvard University, which has refused to comply with his demands, following a government review of its financing.