A Palestinian student arrested as he was about to finalize his U.S. citizenship is accusing Columbia University of eroding democracy with its handling of protests against the Israel-Hamas war.

At least 40 to 50 students, their hands cuffed with plastic zip-ties, were seen being loaded into New York Police Department vans and buses.

New York City police took 80 people into custody after responding to protests on Columbia's campus, the police department said.