Watch: Pro-Palestinian Protesters Occupy Building At Columbia University; Biden Says 'Absolutely Wrong Approach'

Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University were occupying a building on the New York City campus on Tuesday as officials of the Ivy college in the US limited access to students who live there and essential employees.

The occupation of Hamilton Hall at the prestigious university in New York came hours after administrators said they had begun suspending students for failing to comply with an order to disperse. The school said in an early morning notice that effective immediately access to the Morningside campus has been limited to students residing in residential buildings on campus and employees providing essential services.

‘Wrong approach’

As demonstrations raged at colleges across the country, the White House said that President Joe Biden opposes the seizure of a Columbia University campus building by pro-Palestinian protesters. “The president believes that forcibly taking over a building on campus is absolutely the wrong approach,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told an online briefing.

“That is not an example of peaceful protest.”

READ MORE: Columbia University Begins Suspending Pro-Palestinian Student Protesters After They Ignore Deadline To Disperse

‘Intifada’

“This access restriction will remain in place until circumstances allow otherwise,” the notice read. “The safety of every single member of this community is paramount. We thank you for your patience, cooperation and understanding.”

The protesters who were occupying Hamilton Hall displayed banners from a window reading “Intifada,” the Arabic word for an uprising, CNN reported, citing a video.  The university began suspending pro-Palestinian student activists on Monday who refused to dismantle a protest camp on the New York City campus after the Ivy League school declared a stalemate in talks seeking to end the demonstration.

War in Gaza

University President Nemat Minouche Shafik said in a statement that days of negotiations between student organizers and academic leaders had failed to persuade demonstrators to remove the dozens of tents set up to express opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza.

The crackdown at Columbia, at the center of Gaza-related protests roiling university campuses across the US in recent weeks, came as police at the University of Texas at Austin arrested dozens of students whom they doused with pepper spray at a pro-Palestinian rally.

READ MORE: ‘Troubled’ By Disproportionate Police Action Against US Campus Protesters: UN Rights Chief

UN human rights chief Volker Turk today said he was “troubled” by heavy-handed actions taken by US security forces during attempts to break up pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses.

“I am concerned that some of law enforcement actions across a series of universities appear disproportionate in their impacts,” Turk said in a statement sent to journalists, in which he made reference to arrests and sanctions of students. “It must be clear that legitimate exercises of the freedom of expression cannot be conflated with incitement to violence and hatred,” he added.

(With agency inputs)