The New York Police Department arrested several protestors at Barnard College late Wednesday after a takeover of the school library to protest the expulsion of three students who espoused anti-Israel beliefs was broken up due to a bomb threat.

On Wednesday evening, the NYPD was called to the Milstein Center on the prestigious campus after a bomb threat and hours of anti-Israel agitators demonstrating inside the campus building. “Anyone who refuses to leave the location is subject to arrest,” the NYPD said in an X post. “Please stay away from the area.” Sources confirmed to Fox News that at least 10 people were arrested. The NYPD declined to provide information on their charges.

In a statement, Columbia University leadership said the campus disruption “is not acceptable conduct.” “We are aware of a disruption of Milstein Library at Barnard College — a separate institution from Columbia University, although it is affiliated. We are in touch with Barnard’s leadership and security team as they address the situation and will continue to monitor it closely,” the university said in a release Wednesday afternoon.

The interruption of academic activity is unacceptable conduct. We are committed to assisting our Columbia student body and campus community during this tough time. Fox News Digital has contacted the university for comment on the protest arrests.

Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images. Democratic New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, who represents the Bronx borough, criticized the protests on social media Wednesday.

“Anti-Israel agitators are at it again, taking over a building at Barnard college and preventing students from attending classes and using the library,” Torres said on social media. “If institutions like Barnard had a clear policy of removing students who took over private property, hostile takeovers would stop in a heartbeat. The absence of accountability is an open invitation to anarchy and disruption on college campuses.”

The protests came after more than 100 protesters gathered outside a Columbia University building Tuesday evening in response to an appearance from former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the university’s student newspaper reported.

The event, hosted by Columbia/Barnard Hillel, the School of International and Public Affairs’ Institute of Global Politics, and the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life in New York City, featured Bennett. “The discussion was an important part of our ongoing mission to empower our students to explore, learn, and grow intellectually,” Brian Cohen, the Kraft Center’s spokesperson, told Fox News Digital of Bennett’s visit.

“The event proceeded without incident. Unfortunately, the present campus dynamic compelled us to limit last night’s event to invited students.”

Cohen continued: “[S]tudents of diverse backgrounds and political leanings listened to a world leader and asked challenging questions – as one would expect at a world-class university.”

According to the Columbia Spectator, the protest against the event was organized by Columbia JVP and the Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition. Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched its first attack on Israel, initiating the start of a 15-month conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, there have been several anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses across the country.

The university worked with Columbia Hillel on public safety preparations for their event with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, including any campus protest activity and minimizing potential disruptions to academic activities, according to a statement released Wednesday. “The event was well attended and took place without disruption or interference.” It reported that “groups from outside” that “Columbia community also protested in public spaces outside the University’s gates, which the NYPD was responsible for managing.” “As always, we monitored to ensure activity on our campus was safe and complied with our rules and policies, including the immediate enforcement of policies to prevent discrimination or the targeting of our community members in any form,” according to the university.

Three Barnard College students were recently expelled for breaking into Columbia’s Hamilton Hall in April last year. Barnard is an all-female college that is part of Columbia University’s educational system. On Wednesday, masked demonstrators stormed the Milstein Center at Barnard College, chanting “free Palestine” and interrupting courses. Students at Barnard, where tuition and housing can cost more than $95,000, told Fox News’ Alexis McAdams that they were instructed to hide in place.

In an Instagram post announcing the location of Tuesday evening’s demonstration, the Columbia University branch of Jewish Voice for Peace (Columbia JVP) stated that it is its “duty to ensure that war criminals and genociders never feel welcomed on our campus, despite invitations from groups such as Hillel.” The Instagram post contained photographs of the event’s email invitation, which asked participants to “minimize discussing this event with others” and described their guests’ identities as “confidential.” “The group of individuals who attempted to disrupt the event proved that this was a necessary precaution,” Cohen said of the decision to make the event invite-only. “We are grateful that, thanks to our cautious planning, the NYPD prevented the demonstrators from entering the venue. It was never our event impacted by the disruptions outside.

“I look forward to the day when we can, once more, organize vital educational experiences like this for the larger university community.

Columbia University Jews for Ceasefire issued a statement Tuesday before of the protests, claiming that Barnard Hillel “deprived the vast majority of the student body an opportunity to engage in critical discourse with an elected official with true political power.” “This is at odds with CBHillel’s repeated demands for a campus culture open to dialogue, especially given that this discussion is about the very issue that sparked such demands,” according to the statement released by the group.

The demonstration followed President Donald Trump’s announcement earlier this week that “Federal funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests.”

According to an HHS press release, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education (ED), and the United States General Services Administration (GSA) announced on Monday that Columbia’s federal contracts and grants would be reviewed for potential violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in light of recent anti-Israel protests. The federal government’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering canceling $51.4 million in federal government contracts with the university, according to HHS. The task committee will also look at more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to the Ivy League schools.

“Antisemitism — like racism — is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in a statement Monday. “In recent years, censorship and misleading narratives about woke cancel culture have turned our renowned colleges into breeding grounds for this dangerous and violent illness. Making America healthy entails creating trusting and mutually respectful communities founded on free speech and open debate.

Hamas and Israel’s recent cease-fire agreement, which halted the deadly battle, prompted Hamas to release ten Israeli captives and five Thai nationals kidnapped on October 7, 2023, in exchange for Palestinian inmates and more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Six Americans remain in Gaza.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 46,000 Palestinians have died in the war, with women and children accounting for half of the total. The battle displaced more than 90% of Gaza’s two million Palestinians.