Protests at Brooklyn College quickly escalated into chaos Thursday evening as pro-Palestine demonstrators attempted to take over Boylan Hall and police were called to the scene.
Social media accounts livestreaming the protest depicted a chaotic scene as protestors clashed with police officers, with one post on X appearing to show a protester screaming in pain after being tased by police.
“There was a huge group protesting for Palestine in the courtyard. Then there was a smaller group for Israel. You can imagine what went wrong,” a student at the college who was not part of the protest but witnessed the events unfold said. “Then the police swept in, and there were some arrests. We tried to move to get away, but you could hear the cries of injustice everywhere,” said the student, a freshman music-major from Bensonhurst who did not want to be named.
Police were called to the scene around 4:50 p.m. by officials from Brooklyn college in response to a demonstration, an NYPD spokesperson said. The NYPD could not immediately confirm if anyone had been arrested, as multiple social media accounts appeared to show.
The spokesperson could not say how many officers had been deployed but livestreams on social media appeared to show between 50 and 100 officers struggling to arrest students.
Earlier today students set up a “Hassan Ayyad Liberated Zone” encampment in the east quad between Boylan and Ingersoll Halls at Brooklyn CUNY college in Midwood. The name of the encampment referenced a 14-year-old Palestinian singer who was killed by Israeli bombs along with scores of others this week in Gaza.
In the background of one video on social media a voice could be heard over a loudspeaker telling protesters to disperse. “If you refuse to disperse, you will be placed under arrest and charged with disorderly conduct,” the voice can be heard saying.
NYPD are seen at Brooklyn College after Pro-Palestine demonstrators attempted to take over Boylan Hall in Brooklyn NY on May 8, 2025. (Rose Aubin/New York Daily News)
All appeared calm and the protest over at 7:20 p.m. with minimal police presence and the gates to the college closed, according to a Daily News reporter at the scene.
The protest action follow’s yesterday’s events at Columbia University, where dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested after occupying the school’s Butler Library.
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