A pro-Palestine activist protesting near Columbia University on Tuesday evening appeared to have no worries about being arrested as he confidently stated he would be quickly released “just like the criminals” on the New York City subway.
Fox reporter Alexis McAdams appeared on “Jesse Watters Primetime” during a live report of the ongoing protests at the Ivy League university, as tensions have continued to build between activists and police officers.
McAdams approached a protester and asked about the demonstration and how they felt regarding the damage done to the school early Tuesday morning. (RELATED: Jewish Student Supporting Two-State Solution Condemns Columbia’s Escalation, Says Protests Started Out Mostly Peaceful)
“Is there anything you would want to tell the university in terms of trying to – do you think the students should be suspended, kicked off campus?” McAdams asked.
“Absolutely not. I mean there’s so much history that we’ve seen in our United States revolution. These people, these kids, whether young, old or whatever the case may be, they deserve to be here. Without a protest, none of us would be here,” the protester stated.
“What about with the way that the campus was damaged last night? They smashed the windows at Hamilton Hall, they took over there. That’s breaking not just campus policy, right? But that’s violating the law,” McAdams pushed back.
“No, that’s totally fine. I mean what Israel’s doing and what the United States is doing is so much more than just worth broken glass. We’ll always be able to repair that glass but the fact that there’s 30, 40,000 lives that will never ever, ever be taken back —” the protester stated.
“Yeah, so what will you guys do when the police come right in here and end up maybe handcuffing people and arresting them?” McAdams questioned.
“We’ll do what we’ve always done. We’ll get arrested, just like the criminals in the subway, they’re always right back out in 24 hours,” the protester responded.
As pro-Palestine activists began protesting on campus April 17 demanding that the university divest from companies connected to Israel, activists have since clashed with authorities and caused interruptions for the school. Early Tuesday morning, activists took over a campus building, Hamilton Hall, with video showing protesters in black masks breaking glass windows and reportedly holding a custodian hostage for hours.