NYPD moves in to break up pro-Palestinian protest at Brooklyn College

Roni Jacobson, New York Daily News on May 8, 2025

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NEW YORK — Protests at Brooklyn College quickly escalated into chaos Thursday evening as pro-Palestine demonstrators attempted to take over Boylan Hall and police were called to the scene.

Social media accounts livestreaming the protest depicted a chaotic scene of protesters clashing with police officers. One post on X appears to show a protester screaming in pain while being tased by police. Other accounts allege that at least eight people have been arrested so far.

The New York Police Department could not immediately confirm the arrests, but an NYPD spokesperson confirmed that around 4:50 p.m. officials from Brooklyn College called to request police presence in response to a demonstration and that officers were at the scene.

The spokesperson could not say how many officers had been deployed but livestreams on social media appeared to show between 50 and 100 officers struggling to arrest students.

Earlier Thursday students set up a “Hassan Ayyad Liberated Zone” encampment in the east quad between Boylan and Ingersoll Halls at Brooklyn CUNY college in Midwood. The name of the encampment referenced Ayyad, a 14-year-old Palestinian singer who was killed by Israeli bombs along with scores of others this week in Gaza.

In the background of one video on social media a voice could be heard over a loudspeaker telling protesters to disperse. “If you refuse to disperse, you will be placed under arrest and charged with disorderly conduct,” the voice can be heard saying.

All appeared calm and the protest over at 7:20 p.m. with minimal police presence and the gates to the college closed, according to a New York Daily News reporter at the scene.

The protest action follow’s Wednesday’s events at Columbia University, where dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested after occupying the school’s Butler Library.