Police say students were not in serious danger during a pro-Palestinian protest at Cooper Union on Wednesday, after multiple outlets initially reported Jewish students were “barricaded” in the university library.
NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell briefed reporters Thursday morning, saying police were present at the university throughout the protest and that university staff chose to lock a library door as a precaution — but that no threats were made against students supporting Israel or Palestinians, and no criminality was involved.
“There was no direct threat, there was no damage and there was no danger to any students in that school,” Chell said on Thursday. “The students were not barricaded … A school administrator thought it was prudent to close the doors.”
The demonstration was among many across city college campuses Wednesday, organized to protest the Israel-Hamas war and demand a ceasefire in Gaza. Students at Cooper Union walked out of class at around 1 p.m.
Chell said about 20 pro-Palestinian students were among those protesting outside and eventually wanted to go into the president’s office, where school administrators determined it was safe for them to remain.
“They wanted to allow the students to keep talking,” Chell said, adding the students gathered outside the office for about a half-hour.
The same group then went downstairs and a school official decided to post a private security guard at the library and close the doors, where about 20 Jewish students —who police said were silently counterprotesting earlier — waited inside for roughly 10 minutes.
Chell said said some of the pro-Palestinian students started banging on the library’s doors and windows looking into the library — as they left, students inside the library were asked if they wanted taxi rides home.
“They said. ‘No, we feel safe, we’re good,’ and they all left,” Chell said.
The incident drew widespread attention on social media, which was partly fueled by…
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