Nepal, May 1 -- New York City police officers entered the grounds of Columbia University on Tuesday night to arrest and disperse pro-Palestinian protesters who took over a campus building nearly 24 hours earlier and have occupied a tent camp at the Ivy League school for nearly two weeks.

Live television images showed helmeted police in tactical gear entering the elite campus in upper Manhattan, which has been the focal point of student protests that have spread to dozens of schools across the US in recent days expressing opposition to Israel's war in Gaza.

"We're clearing it out," police officers yelled as they marched up to the barricaded entrance of Hamilton Hall, an academic building that protesters had broke into and seized control ...