Columbia pro-Palestine protesters sprayed with chemical: Report

(NewsNation) — Protesters who attended a pro-Palestinian rally Friday at Columbia University were allegedly sprayed with a hazardous chemical, a report by the student newspaper said. 

Nearly two dozen students who spoke to the Columbia Spectator described “a foul smell” and physical symptoms after the protest. Some said the substance used was skunk spray.

Skunk spray, according to the BBC, was invented by Israeli firm Odortec and is supplied to the United States by Mistral Security. It’s been used by the Israel Defense Forces against demonstrators in the occupied West Bank since 2008, the BBC said. Palestinians who skunk spray was used on said it was “worse than raw sewage” and smells “like a mixture of excrement, noxious gas and a decomposing donkey.”

One student at the protest who spoke to the Columbia Spectator said she first noticed an odor when the group started marching around campus. Calling it “a really strong smell of poop mixed with decaying animal,” the student said it would come and go as they walked. Even after the protest, the smell stuck to the student’s jacket. 

Another student said she had to go to urgent care and felt fatigue, headaches and nausea after the demonstration. Because of her “severe pain,” doctors said the student will have to miss class for a few days. Having an autoimmune condition, the student said, worsened the spray’s effects. 

Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace’s Columbia chapter said online that dozens of students gave them testimony about their eyes burning, even hours after the protest, as well as nausea and a smell that “only worsens and spreads after being washed.”

One member of the Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine had to be taken away in an ambulance after experiencing “severe nausea, lightheadedness, tightness of the chest and abnormal heart rate,” the group said. 

The New York Police Department said they have a report on file for an assault, where six victims stated they smelled a foul odor and then began to feel nauseous with headaches during the protest, a spokesperson said Monday morning to NewsNation.

All victims received medical attention, and the NYPD is continuing to investigate, the spokesperson said. Police don’t have information on what the substance sprayed was, she added. 

New York’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the reported use of a chemical agent and is asking the NYPD to investigate it as a hate crime. 

“The alleged use of a chemical agent on the grounds of a college campus in NYC is beyond heinous,” CAIR-NY Executive Director Afaf Nasher said in a statement. “It is an escalation of violence launched against peaceful protesters by individuals who seek to inflict harm and undermine the principles of peaceful dialogue and dissent upheld in any democratic society.”

Columbia said in a news release that its Public Safety Department received an initial complaint Friday night, with more filed Sunday. 

“The Department has been actively working with local and federal authorities in this investigation, with the NYPD taking a lead role,” the news release said. “While the investigation is proceeding, we continue to seek the university community’s support: Reporting is essential so that the proper authorities — including the NYPD — can track down the facts and take action as necessary.”

While the university acknowledged in the release that it is investigating incidents of “great concern,” its statement did not say what these incidents were, nor did it mention the reports of students getting sprayed. Columbia’s Office of Public Affairs did not immediately respond to specific questions sent by NewsNation Monday. 

Students Supporting Israel Columbia put out a statement on Instagram saying it does not endorse any actions of “any individuals who may engage in behaviors with the intent to cause physical or psychological harm to other Columbia students.” 

Both Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace were suspended by Columbia in November. A university statement says this suspension was because both groups violated university policies related to holding campus events. The Columbia Spectator notes that only 17 days before, the university unilaterally revised its events policies.