Columbia protesters take over building on campus, roughly 12 hours after deadline to disperse

Alex Kent/Getty Images

Dozens of anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University in New York took over a building on campus early Tuesday, barricading the entrances and unrolling a Palestinian flag out of a window.

Video footage showed protesters on Columbia's Manhattan campus locking arms in front of Hamilton Hall, where the office of the Dean is located, early Tuesday morning and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building. Protest organizers made a post on an Instagram page shortly after midnight urging demonstrators to protect the encampment and join them at Hamilton Hall.

This comes after the university gave a deadline of 2 p.m. Monday for students to gather their belongings and leave or face suspension. The university said Monday night it began issuing suspensions for students who failed to leave.