Television footage aired by CNN shows dozens of officers in riot gear entering the building, with some carrying zip-tie restraints and heavy-duty bolt cutters

In a statement today, Columbia President Nemat Minouche Shafik said the university was cancelling in-person classes while denouncing anti-Semitic language and intimidating and harassing behaviour that she said had occurred on campus recently.

Hundreds of members of the teaching staff at Columbia University have held rally in solidarity with the pro-Palestine students who were detained by the police.

University students across the United States have voiced solidarity with pro-Palestine rallies after the police arrested activists at Columbia University on Thursday.