Mahmoud Khalil Leads Barnard Library Takeover—200 Masked Protesters Storm Milstein Library Shouting “Shut It Down!”

Pro-Hamas Protesters Disrupt Midterm Studying

Masked & Violent

On March 5, 2025, close to 200 masked pro-Hamas protesters stormed Barnard College’s Milstein Library through an unmarked entrance opened by an accomplice inside. While charging into the building, they injured a security guard.

Protesters shouted in a megaphone, “Shut it down!” while they waved Palestinian flags and beat drums. The protests disrupted classes and students studying for the upcoming midterms.

The library disruption was ostensibly staged to protest the expulsions of three Barnard students, two of whom were part of a group that barged into the first day of modern Israeli history professor Avi Shilon’s class on January 21, 2025, at Columbia University.

The masked protesters accused Shilon of fomenting “genocide” and filmed themselves passing out violent, anti-Zionist propaganda, including one that showed a jackboot squashing a Jewish star.

The third Barnard student was expelled for her involvement in the violent takeover of Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall on April 30, 2024.

Protesters held up an effigy of Barnard president Laura Rosenbury (L) and taped up a “Wanted” poster of Barnard Vice President Leslie Grinage (R)

Lead Negotiator Mahmoud Khalil

The library takeover was organized by the pro-terror group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), whose leader, Mahmoud Khail, served as the chief negotiator at the library protest.

CUAD is the current home for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), after they were suspended for pro-terror activities. It is now a coalition of over 80 anti-Israel student groups.

The group openly justifies Hamas. Speaking as a CUAD representative, Khalil has stated, “We’ve tried armed resistance, which is legitimate under international law, but Israel calls it terrorism.”

On October 7, 2024, the first anniversary of Hamas’ terror attack, Khalil led a CUAD-organized pro-Hamas protest at Columbia that the group later defined as part of their strategy to “bring the war home”—a phrase tied to the group’s broader goal to bring about the downfall of the USA.

For more information, see Canary Mission’s report “Bringing the War Home.”

Khalil has acted as a lead negotiator for CUAD during several major incidents in 2024 and 2025, including the violent encampment at Columbia.

Videos and images from the Barnard library takeover show Khalil using a bullhorn at the library entrance and speaking with college officials on behalf of the group. His visible role in the takeover, as well as in multiple other events staged by CUAD at Columbia, made him a public face of the movement and garnered the attention of federal authorities.

Shortly after leading the Barnard library takeover, Khalil’s green card was revoked and he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

For more on CUAD, read our report From Tehran to Columbia: Inside America’s Student Intifada

On May 22, 2024, an immigration judge in Louisiana (where Khalil was being detained) ruled that he could be deported, a decision that Khalil immediately appealed.

On June 20, 2025, a U.S. federal judge released him from detention on bail. Upon landing in New Jersey, he was met with a hero’s welcome and escorted through the airport by New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Two days after his release, Khalil – surrounded by Columbia professors and students, fellow anti-American activists and personal bodyguards – took to the streets, continuing his anti-Israel activism. He has since declared his intention to sue the U.S. government for $20 million for his 104-day detention.

Khalil referred to himself as a “freedom fighter,” while CUAD called him a “student intifada political prisoner.”

At press time, cases against Khalil are pending in immigration and federal courts.

In a July 22, 2025, interview on CNN, Khalil refused to denounce Hamas.

Barnard Calls in NYPD After Bomb Threat

Barnard administrators labeled the occupation an “unauthorized activity” and issued multiple notices to the crowd to leave, which protesters ripped to shreds. At 4:15 p.m., more than three hours after the protest started, Barnard authorities announced a bomb threat had been reported, prompting campus security to order everyone to leave.

The threat was reportedly emailed to Barnard through an anonymous dark web messaging service and claimed that a pipe bomb had been placed in the Barnard College library, specifically targeting “anti-white f—-t terrorist communist [sic].”

Protesters refused to evacuate the building and blocked administrators from leaving, It was at this point that Rosenbury called in the New York Police Department (NYPD), which arrested protesters and took them out of the building. A large supporting crowd that had gathered outside the building was also cleared by the NYPD.

Of the nine protesters arrested, one was a Barnard student, four were students at Columbia and one a student at Union Theological Seminary, an affiliate institution to Columbia.

Protesters, as well as the student government, later decried Rosenbury for “Breaking a long-standing promise … that the College would never invite the NYPD onto campus.” Rosenbury countered that she did not make an explicit promise to call law enforcement, but rather that the college would “always [make] every effort to de-escalate and resolve” campus disruptions internally.

Rosenbury said due to the bomb threat and the refusal of protesteres to vacate the building, she made the decision to call for help from police. “For the safety of our entire community, we requested NYPD assistance,” Rosenbury said in a statement.

Criminal Charges

The protesters arrested at the library takeover were charged with obstructing governmental administration, trespassing and disorderly conduct. All were released with desk appearance tickets, which require them to appear in court at a later date.

The incident prompted outrage from elected officials calling for more stringent disciplinary action. New York Congressman Richie Torres said students involved in the incident should be expelled.

New York City Council member Julie Menin, a former member of Columbia’s board, called the incident “reprehensible” and “unacceptable.”

‘Privileged’ Arrestees

Investigations into the arrested protesters by The Washington Free Beacon and the New York Post indicate that a number of them come from highly privileged backgrounds. The arrestees were named as:

1. 1. Gabrielle Wimer, a medical student at Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Class of 2025 president. Wilmer is from Westport, Connecticut, one of the wealthiest suburbs in America. She was suspended after the incident, but it is unknown if she is still under suspension.Before her LinkedIn profile was deleted, Wilmer said she was “passionate about global health and human rights” and had “experience in research, program management, and community outreach in multicultural settings.”

      Wimer is the programming coordinator for Columbia’s Human Rights and Asylum Clinic and an active member of Columbia’s chapters of White Coats for Black Lives and Students for a National Health Program.

   2. Hannah Puelle, a Columbia senior studying philosophy and sociology. In a now-deleted page on its website, the Columbia Undergraduate Law Review website listed Puelle as its publisher. She is also a research assistant at Columbia’s Labor Lab, according to her LinkedIn.Puelle was suspended after the incident, but it is unknown if she is still under suspension. The Washington Free Beacon reports that a source familiar with Puelle said she was a resident adviser in the first-year residence dormitory John Jay Hall. She is also a member of Columbia’s Resident Advisers Collective Bargaining Committee.
   3. Yunseo Chung, a Columbia junior majoring in English and Women’s and Gender Studies. According to her now-deleted LinkedIn profile, Chung is involved in Columbia’s Criminal Justice Coalition and Columbia’s Queer Alliance. She was the valedictorian of her high school. Chung was suspended after the incident, but it is unknown if she is still under suspension.
   4. Symmes Cannon, a Columbia student. In a now-deleted page, the Columbia Spectator’s weekly magazine, the Eye, listed Cannon as its deputy editor. Cannon was suspended after the incident, but it is unknown if she is still under suspension.
   5. Tramy Dong, a junior at Barnard studying computer science. In a now-deleted page, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project listed Dong as a communications intern. According to a now-deleted online bio, Dong is “interested in the intersection of technology and activism, hoping to learn more about surveillance systems and possible solutions.” According to her LinkedIn, she is part of Barnard’s Science Pathways Scholars Program, a “highly selective four-year program that supports young students from low-income or first-generation households.”
   6. Christopher Holmes, a 26-year-old graduate student at the Columbia affiliate college, Union Theological Seminary. Holmes was suspended after the incident and it is unknown what his current status is.On April 18, 2024, Holmes was arrested on the second day of Columbia’s encampment. He was featured in a video being led onto a police vehicle by the NYPD with his hands zip-tied behind his back.

      On April 30, 2024, Holmes was arrested for participating in the takeover of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall and charged with “third degree criminal trespass…punishable by up to three months in jail, a year of probation and/or up to a $500 fine.”

      He since rejected a plea bargain agreement offered by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to dismiss his case and pleaded “Not Guilty” at his arraignment on May 1, 2024.

      Holmes was featured in a video posted to X where he called for “the overthrow of the corporate totalitarian state.”Pranavi Davuluri, a 21-year-old student worker at New York City’s School of Visual Arts.

   7. Alexander Nanci-Marr, 20, whose family is from the upscale Sag Harbor in the Hamptons and started the famous Hampton Jitney.
   8. Allison Wuu, 18.

Profiles

Christopher Holmes
Gabrielle Wimer
Hannah Puelle

Mahmoud Khalil
Symmes Cannon

Tramy Dong
Yunseo Chung

FOR MORE INFORMATION, READ

From Tehran to Columbia: Inside America’s Student Intifada

Columbia’s Antisemitic Problem

The Ecosystem of Antisemitic Professors at Columbia

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