Columbia campus protests: as students occupy building, what next?

Pro-Palestinian protesters have taken over Hamilton Hall, a key campus building, after talks to end the encampment failed

Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University have occupied a famous building on campus in an escalation of their months-long demonstration against Israel’s war in Gaza.

The takeover of Hamilton Hall – named after one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton – followed the failure of talks with university authorities aimed at winning the protesters’ agreement to dismantle an encampment of about 120 tents.