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The anti-Israel “liberated zone” at Columbia University isn’t so free when it comes to speaking to the press.

Fox News correspondent CB Cotton tried to speak to some of the activists at the Upper Manhattan campus and was instructed to speak with a “media team” if she wanted more information about their demands.

(Video: Fox News)

As BizPac Review reported, NYPD officers donned riot gear and moved into the Ivy League encampment, arresting more than 100 protestors.

Cotton was given permission by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism to film the campus events, and was attempting to get the perspective of a young woman wearing a keffiyeh and a facemask for Friday’s episode of Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle.”

Another student, also wearing a headscarf, interrupted Cotton’s interview.

“We have, like, a media team if you’re interested in talking to people,” the activist told Cotton, who noted that there are other cameras present.

“If you’d mind stopping recording,” the protester insisted, “then we can connect you with our media team.”

“Well, we just want to talk to you all about your demands for the university,” Cotton pressed.

“OK, yeah, we do have a press team,” the first student stated.

“So you guys do not want to speak with us,” Cotton clarified.

“No,” the student said. “We can direct you to a press team.”

When confronted with the fact that Fox News was an invited guest of the university in what was being touted as a “liberated zone,” the female activists balked.

“I don’t know why they would say on behalf of the students,” one protestor said of the journalism school’s claim that they “value the free press.”

“Let’s walk away for a second,” another said as the trio moved on.

“[T]hey’re very selective about who they allow into this ‘liberated zone,’” Cotton told guest host Pete Hegseth. “There are other cameras in there right now. We can see those cameras, but again, our camera is not allowed in.”

“Good on you for going in there,” Hegseth told Cotton. “You are a journalist, there covering something they are trying to get attention for. Yet, they are covering their faces and won’t answer your questions.”

“Why do you think that is?” he asked.

Cotton said she believes they didn’t want to answer the “tough questions.” She noted there are other students, including Jewish students, who believe the protests are “disrupting the campus.”

“We want to hear their side, too,” Cotton said. “Clearly, they don’t want to share it with us.”

“If you are going to harass and disrupt, you better be prepared to answer tough questions,” Hegseth noted.

As the NYPD was hauling protestors away, many of Columbia’s students expressed gratitude.

“I applaud the cops. They are doing the right thing,” one student who declined to be named told the New York Post. “We don’t feel safe. We fear for our lives.”

“Remember who started this? Hamas, that terrorist group,” the 20-year-old added. “We pay a lot of money to come here and we should feel safe and protected.”

Melissa Fine
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