‘Like the KKK’ – Columbia U janitors sue anti-Israel rioters for assault during campus takeover

Two janitors at Columbia University sue pro-Hamas rioters who seized control of school building last year, accusing them of assault and battery, holding them hostage, and hurling antisemitic epithets.

By World Israel News Staff

Two janitors employed by Columbia University have sued anti-Israel rioters who seized control of a school building last year, accusing the mob of assault, battery, and holding them hostage.

The plaintiffs, Mario Torres and Lester Wilson, filed the lawsuit with the help of the Torridon Law firm and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, claiming damages over an incident in late April 2024.

According to the lawsuit, more than 40 anti-Israel protesters, including both Columbia students and “outside agitators,” harassed, attacked, and “terrorized” the two plaintiffs on April 29  and 30 last year, during the occupation of Hamilton Hall.

The two say that the rioters held them in the building against their will, assaulting them and haranguing them with bigoted slurs, including “Jew-lovers” and deriding them as “Zionists.”

The suit accuses the protesters of battery, assault, and conspiracy to violate the plaintiffs’ civil rights, The Free Press internet outlet reported.

The filing described the rioters as having “donned masks and hoods to conceal their identities… reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan.”

Both Torres and Lester say they were physically injured during the Hamilton Hall takeover and were traumatized by the assault, saying they feared for their lives while being held hostage.

The two janitors have not returned to work since the seizure of Hamilton Hall, and have been living off of workers compensation payments over the past year. The suit noted that the payments are “inadequate” for the two men’s basic needs and medical bills.

“We don’t expect to go to work and get swarmed by an angry mob with rope and duct tape and masks and gloves,” said Torres. “I was freaking out. At that point, I’m thinking about my family. How was I going to get out? Through a window?”