Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters staged a walkout on Low Plaza on Monday organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest as part of Within Our Lifetime’s call to demonstrate throughout New York City on Oct. 7.

Before the walkout, pro-Palestinian demonstrators continued their daily vigil, reading the names of over 50,000 Palestinians killed in the war in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023. Protesters held banners reading “We will honor all our martyrs,” “Free Gaza free speech,” and “Break the chains and let them fall.” Beside them on Low Plaza, dozens of pro-Israel protesters stood holding Israeli and American flags and pictures of hostages taken on Oct. 7, 2023.

Columbia had braced for both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel demonstrations ahead of Monday, restricting Morningside campus access to University ID holders and increasing Public Safety personnel.

Interim University President Katrina Armstrong announced the additional security measures in a Sunday email and wrote that the walkout was not notified through the process outlined in the Guidelines to the Rules of University Conduct. Armstrong raised concerns about groups unaffiliated with the University coming to Columbia’s campus “for activities that raise concern about the potential for violence.”

“As Interim President Armstrong expressed in her message last week, we anticipated and have been preparing for a period of uncertainty in the coming days,” University spokesperson Samantha Slater wrote in a statement to Spectator. “We continue to implement public safety measures to plan for every eventuality, and we have taken several steps to ensure that our campus can continue to carry out our academic mission, including restricting gate access and increasing public safety personnel.”

Within Our Lifetime—a Palestinian-led community organization in New York City that has previously organized demonstrations promoted by pro-Palestinian student groups on campus—had urged individuals to call out of school and work in an Oct. 2 post on X to “stand with Gaza and uplift the Palestinian people resisting genocide by any means necessary since 1948.”

CUAD organizers urged attendees in a Friday Instagram post to take precautions to conceal their identities from surveillance mechanisms, including covering up tattoos or piercings, wearing masks to protect from both COVID-19 and CCTV cameras, avoiding swiping their CUIDs, and using a MetroCard rather than their phone to swipe into the subway.

The University erected barricades along College Walk and up onto Low Plaza, dividing the area into two sides. On the east side of Low Plaza, protesters lined the grass with Palestinian flags and signs showing the names and faces of Palestinians killed in the war.

At the beginning of the rally, one speaker gave a safety notice to all student protesters participating in the walkout. The speaker cautioned against providing identification to Public Safety personnel, and said “If you are able to de-escalate the situation and leave without revealing your identity, do so with caution."

Several Palestinian students spoke at the rally about family members lost in Gaza over the past year and about the decades of conflict in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank.

“When we say the people are the resistance, we mean that despite the trauma, the hardship, and the losses that our people in Palestine face, they remain steadfast and brave and ready to defend the land,” one speaker said.

Another speaker spoke about how Palestinian people “are more than just victims,” and how they are all “guided by a longing to return to our homeland.”

“This past year has taught me what it’s like to love so deeply, love a home that I’ve never been to, mourn for people that I have never met, and long for a future in a place that I have never been,” the speaker said. "Until Palestine is free, our resistance will remain steadfast and strong, and we will remain committed to liberation.”

Another student read aloud “a people’s mic” poem, which the audience repeated back line by line. The speaker opened their poem by asking, “My ears ring with the question why, we are nearing an entire year of genocide?”

Protesters chanted, “Free, free Palestine,” and “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” as they left Low Plaza at around 1 p.m. and began circling around the north end of campus. As they marched, protesters chanted “Globalize the intifada,” “Up, up with liberation, down, down with occupation,” and “Palestine is our demand, no peace on stolen land” as they passed the east side of Low Library. By this time, a separate “Columbia United Against Terror” protest had largely dispersed.

As the protesters walked down the west side of Low Library to return to Low Plaza—chanting “One, we are the people, two, we won’t stop fighting, three, we want divestment now, now, now”—Shai Davidai, assistant professor at the Business School, stood in the middle of the crowd, yelling at a Public Safety official standing behind him that the protesters were “blocking my movement.”

Davidai recorded the protesters on his phone and continued to remain inside the crowd. After all the protesters passed the area, an individual who was standing next to Davidai during the altercation said “You know that these are fucking terrorists on campus, honestly, terrorists. They’re straight-up fucking jihadi terrorists.”

According to examples outlined in Columbia’s antidiscrimination policy implemented on Sept. 23, calling students “terrorists” and “jihad supporters” may constitute a violation of the policy if tied to students’ shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics. Using phrases such as “No Zionists are welcome here” may be considered violations if they are directed at individuals for their perceived membership in a protected class.

Once back on Low Plaza, pro-Palestinian protesters continued to chant before a speaker announced that the group would begin to move to the Within Our Lifetime protest. The speaker, who did not identify themself, read out community safety guidelines, including moving in pairs or small groups.

The protesters joined hands and chanted “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and protect one another. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

Before heading out of the 116th Street and Amsterdam Avenue gates, protesters huddled together on College Walk and chanted “I believe that we will win.”