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A crowd of demonstrators staged a sit-in on a lawn at Columbia University in New York City on Thursday, April 18, to express solidarity with a pro-Gaza protest encampment that had been removed from the campus by New York police earlier in the day.

More than 100 protesters occupying tents on the South Lawn were arrested, according to the Columbia student newspaper.

Demonstrators gathered on April 17 as the university’s president, Minouche Shafik, testified before a House committee on issues of antisemitism, student safety, and free speech.

Shafik released a statement on Thursday morning authorizing police to make arrests of the “more than 100 individuals” involved in the encampment.

“The current encampment violates … policies, severely disrupts campus life, and creates a harassing and intimidating environment for many of our students,” the statement reads.

Footage taken on Thursday shows crowds chanting, “Who runs Columbia? We run Columbia,” in solidarity with the detained protesters, on the campus’s West Butler Lawn. Credit: @bwog via Storyful