Students and alumni lock themselves to Amsterdam gates demanding Columbia protect students from ICE

Protesters called for financial transparency from the University, and for Columbia to publicly oppose the detention of students by ICE and demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi.

Photo by Theresa Cullen/The Barnard Bulletin

By Giselle Bradshaw, Riya Mahanta, Theresa Cullen, Fiona Hu, and Kimberly Wing

April 23, 2025

On Monday, April 21, around noon, 11 Columbia University students and alumni used bike locks to attach themselves to the Amsterdam Avenue gates at 116th Street. The protesters called on Columbia to publicly oppose the detention of Mohsen Mahdawi (GS ’25) and Mahmoud Khalil (SIPA ’24) by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and demand their releases. This protest comes about three weeks after students affiliated with Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP), in a similar demonstration, chained themselves to the gate of St. Paul’s Chapel calling for the release of Khalil and transparency from the Board of Trustees.

In addition to these demands, Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition (CPSC), JVP, SIPA Alumni for Palestine, and Columbia University Alumni for Palestine demanded in a joint Instagram post for “a campus wide email acknowledging their detainment with their names, a sanctuary campus, opening the campus gates, disclosure of the university’s investments and divestment from companies profiting from Israel’s genocide and apartheid of the Palestinian people.”

The post continued, “Columbia administration has maintained a disturbing silence, using a false narrative of ‘safety’ for Jewish students to justify repression and avoid accountability.”

Approximately 50 other protesters gathered on the sidewalk in front of the gates, displaying signs that read “Free Mahmoud + Mohsen,” “Columbia enables political persecution,” and a quote from a letter written by Khalil in a Louisiana detention center, “Who has the right to have rights?” 

Photo by Merielen Espino/The Barnard Bulletin

Protesters also tied the names and backstories of 150 Palestinian children — who protesters said were killed by the Israeli military — to the gates using ribbons in the colors of the Palestinian flag. 

As the protest continued, Columbia Public Safety temporarily blocked the southern side of Law Bridge and access to campus through the Amsterdam gates. Protesters accused the University of prioritizing its property and optics over student safety. “You’ll let ICE on campus, but you won’t let your neighbors through the gate,” one demonstrator shouted. 

The protesters also distributed newspapers that imitated The New York Times’ front page layout, with the title of the paper changed to The New York War Crimes. One protester noted that Columbia Journalism School was co-hosting an event with The New York Times titled “The Fight for Global Press Freedom” as the protest was taking place. 

One protester specifically called out the chairman and publisher of The New York Times, A.G. Sulzberger, who participated in the Journalism School’s event, for “sign[ing] letters in support of reporters in Gaza with one hand but proudly publish[ing] genocidal propaganda in The Times with the other.” 

The protester also questioned why Sulzberger was invited to the event by asking, “Columbia wants this nepo baby to teach us about press freedom? About journalistic ethics? Let’s not forget, Sulzberger’s rag published the deranged pack of lies known as ‘Screams Without Words,’ a year and a half ago and has never apologized. In fact, he has defended the professional confabulist who wrote it with the help of an ex-IOF stringer.” 

Sulzberger is the great-grandson of Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger (BC 1914) and former publisher of The Times, Arthur Hays Sulzberger (CC 1913). 

Around 1:20 p.m., officers from the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group (SRG) arrived on scene, accompanied by Public Safety. NYPD officers moved barricades onto the sidewalk, and Public Safety officers detached protesters from the gate using bolt cutters. Protesters reprimanded this action by chanting, “400,000 dead, you protect your gate instead,” and “Columbia, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.” 

After their bike locks were removed, the demonstrators remained in front of the gate while other protesters took turns reading out poetry and excerpts from books written by Palestinian authors. Multiple protesters also read aloud some of the stories of the children whose names they tied to the gates. After a moment of silence, another protester read Khalil’s op-ed, which he wrote while in ICE detention, to the crowd.

Noa Tann (SIPA ’23), who was previously locked to the gate, said in an interview with The Bulletin that they “are here today as a part of an intergenerational group” and that protesters had four demands, namely that “the University acknowledge and condemn the kidnappings of Mahmood Kahil and Mohsen Mahdawi, the University discloses its financial investments and divest from any company that’s directly involved in the genocide, the University in word and in deed commit to being a sanctuary campus, and the University open its 116th Street gates, as mandated by law.” 

Anylah Rembert (SEAS ’27), another protester who was previously locked to the gate, added that “[the University] opens the gates for ICE. It opens the gates for the NYPD, but it doesn’t open the gates for the community members that this school is supposed to serve.”

Photo by Merielen Espino/The Barnard Bulletin

Around 4 p.m., protesters attempted to set up a camping tent outside the gate to symbolize the 2024 “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” NYPD officers quickly intervened, took the tent down, and informed the group that the tent was not allowed on a public sidewalk. Officers then arrested an individual, whom JVP and CPSC claimed to be a Jewish Columbia graduate, for sitting inside the tent. 

The police then set up additional barricades, restricting protesters and members of the press to areas of the sidewalk away from the gate. Nine protesters chose to remain seated directly in front of the gates despite the risk of arrest.

Around 6 p.m., protesters held a vigil, arranging incense and lighting candles to “honor all [our] martyrs.” About ten minutes later, the arrested protester returned to the demonstration, receiving cheers and hugs from other demonstrators. 

In an interview with the arrested protester, they confirmed that they were a Barnard alumnus, but would not disclose the specific reasons for their arrest until they spoke to a lawyer. The alumnus referred to their arrest as using their “privilege in order to speak up,” and stated, “As a US citizen, white person, as a Jewish person, it’s my duty to take those risks in order to speak out and cause change.” 

“I will come back as many times as needed,” they concluded.

Around 6:20 p.m., an organizer asked protest participants to gather in front of the gate to thank them for coming together to “scare administration” and “keep each other safe.” The organizer claimed that they are “still going to be showing up” to future demonstrations and “will not back down.” Protesters began to disperse shortly after, chanting “We’ll be back.”