Trump says police storming of Columbia University 'beautiful thing to watch'

Former US President Donald Trump praised the New York Police Department (NYPD) on Wednesday for its storming of Columbia University's campus, where pro-Palestine students maintained an encampment in a call for the university's administration to divest from Israel.

"It was a beautiful thing to watch, New York's finest," he told his supporters at a rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Praising the police, Trump said that "in exactly two hours, everything was over," adding: "And they (police) went in, they knocked it out, and they were incredible. They did a great job."

"We are going to give our great police their power back," he added.

On the pro-Palestine protest at Columbia University, Trump said "New York was under siege last night."

He also criticized Columbia University President Minouche Shafik for waiting "so long" to call the police and for being so "weak", "afraid" and "bad."

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Trump claimed that pro-Palestine protestors at Columbia University contained "paid agitators."

"I really think you have a lot of paid agitators, professional agitators in here too, and I see it all over," he said. "You know, when you see signs and they're all identical, that means they're being paid by a source."

Around 300 people were arrested after police responded to pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University and the City College of New York late Tuesday, according to New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Police officers late Tuesday entered Columbia's Hamilton Hall, which was held by pro-Palestinian protesters, and the building was cleared of demonstrators about two hours later.

Columbia's protests began in April and have served as a flashpoint for the wider anti-war movement after Shafik initially asked the NYPD to deploy to campus on April 18, when more than 100 people were taken into custody in an attempt to clear an encampment.

Demonstrators quickly adapted, however, and opened a new sit-in on another university lawn.

The antiwar protesters have been incensed by Israel's ongoing offensive on Gaza following last October's cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, which killed around 1,200 people.

More than 34,500 Palestinians have since been killed and over 76,000 injured.

Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.