what went down in nyc at columbia and city college was a massive escalation and a huge show of violent force from the police in what is already one of the heaviest policed cities in the country, if not the world. sending hundreds if not thousands of riot cops, counter terrorism, SWAT and NYPD's notorious SRG units armed with what is basically military equipment to beat up college students and barricade columbia faculty into their apartments. the fact that they removed all press from campus and refused to let journalists in before they swept the camp is very concerning. a lot of journalists said this was an unprecedented use of force even for the NYPD and it seemed like an excuse for them to use a lot of their new equipment. out of around 300 people arrested on tuesday, some still havent been released or even processed. this is illegal in new york state btw, people have to be arraigned within 24 hours. NYPD has been giving very little information about the people detained, not specifying where theyre being held, and taking a suspiciously long time to process them. they're apparently trying to charge some protestors with felonies. anyways all this is to say this is a major escalation from NYPD and a grim sign for the future. this is a prelude to fascism, not an alternative.
