Demonstrators in NYC protest expulsion of Barnard College students accused in bias incident

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered at Barnard College and City College in Manhattan on Thursday to protest the expulsion of two Barnard students accused in a bias incident.

Police sources say those students interrupted an Israel studies class in January and distributed anti-Zionism flyers.

At least 1 taken into custody at protest outside City College

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside the entrance to Barnard on Thursday afternoon. Officers warned them to get off the sidewalk and stop blocking pedestrian traffic, or get arrested.

Dozens of demonstrators later marched from Barnard to City College in Upper Manhattan.

NYPD officers blocked off Convent Avenue at West 141st Street, trying to prevent protesters from getting on campus.

At least one person was seen being taken into custody. It's unclear why.

The protesters began marching again just before 5 p.m.

A CCNY spokesperson said the school would be postponing an event scheduled to take place Thursday at Shepherd Hall "due to safety concerns."

Protesters stage hours-long sit-in inside Barnard College's Milbank Hall

Wednesday night, a group of protesters staged a sit-in inside Milbank Hall for nearly seven hours.

The Transport Workers Union says a 41-year-old security guard at the entrance was pushed and shoved during their stampede into the building.

Student Shoshana Aufzien was inside Milbank Hall at the time.

"It was frightening," she said. "I think they should have called NYPD in the second it got violent."

Barnard said the protesters, many of whom were wearing masks, left after the school sent a final written notice that it would be forced to "consider additional necessary measures."

In a flyer, the protesters demanded Barnard College drop the two students' expulsions.

"You have posters that talk about Intifada and stamping on the Jewish star, and ... words escalate," student Eliana Goldin said. "This all could have been avoided if Barnard had just enforced its rules."

CBS News New York's Lisa Rozner approached multiple student demonstrators, but none of them would talk on camera and told her to send an email.

"The students are protesting a genocide non-violently, and they're being viciously suppressed under the false excuse of antisemitism when opposing Israel is not antisemitism," Morningside Heights resident Larry Everest said.

"The purpose of that sit-in was to demand the reinstatement of two expelled students who ... challenged the professor of that class who was promoting the standpoint of Israel," said Raymond Lotta, of Revolution Books in Harlem.

Barnard College has not returned CBS News New York's request for comment on whether there was a 1 p.m. meeting with the demonstrators Thursday. It previously said, "No promises of amnesty were made, and no concessions were negotiated."