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By Eduardo Cuevas

MANHATTAN – The New York City Police Department is investigating reports that students were attacked with a chemical spray last week during a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University, causing several people to seek medical treatment.

The spraying student described occurred during a student-led divestment protest at the Ivy League campus Friday afternoon against the ongoing war in Gaza. The protestors said they sprayed an unknown substance in the air that caused a foul odor. The chemical caused some students to experience nausea and burning eyes. The Columbia Spectator, the student newspaper, first reported about the incident at a “divestment now” rally on the university’s library steps.

A woman reported the incident to police on Saturday, the day after it happened, and five others reported the attack on Sunday, NYPD said in an email on Tuesday. No arrests have been made.

On Monday, Columbia’s interim provost, Dennis Mitchell, wrote in a campus email that the university banned the people alleged to have perpetrated the chemical attack. He didn’t identify whether the suspected assailants were students, and the university declined to provide more details.

Mitchell said in the email that demonstrators had reported being sprayed with “a foul-smelling substance” that required students to seek medical treatment. The university is working with NYPD, which is leading the investigation into “what appear to have been serious crimes, possibly hate crimes.”

On Sunday, the Columbia Department of Public Safety said it was working with NYPD and federal officials to investigate the incident.

The FBI declined to comment on Tuesday. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to questions.

Some city officials spoke out about their concerns in social media posts.

“No student should be afraid to express themselves on campus or elsewhere in our city,” City Councilmember Shaun Abreu said on X Monday.