New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams said on Wednesday that the anti-Israel protest at Columbia University has been influenced by “outside agitators” who appeared to show that they had been trained.
After NYPD officers stormed Hamilton Hall on Columbia’s campus and arrested dozens of protesters who were illegally occupying the building on Tuesday night, Adams said in a press conference that authorities were attempting to “distinguish between who were actually students and who were not supposed to be on the grounds,” The New York Post reported.
“There were individuals on the campus who should not have been there. They were people who are professionals and we saw evidence of training,” Adams said. “I know that there are those who attempting to say, ‘Well, the majority of people may have been students.’ You don’t have to be the majority to influence and co-op an operation. That is what this is about.”
“This is a global problem that young people are being influenced by those who are professionals at radicalizing our children and I’m not going to allow that to happen as the mayor of the city of New York,” he added.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard said on Wednesday that the chains used by anti-Israel protesters to lock themselves in Hamilton Hall are “not what students bring to school.”
“This is what professionals bring to campuses and universities,” Sheppard said.
The anti-Israel Columbia protest began nearly two weeks ago, with demonstrators setting up tents on the Ivy League school’s grounds and calling for Columbia to divest from Israel as the country fights Hamas. Sheppard added that between 40-50 protesters were arrested on Tuesday night as NYPD officers made their way through Hamilton Hall.
“In order for our emergency services group to enter into the building, they had to first cut through these chains, but also get rid of debris and barricaded doors that were barricaded with refrigerators, vending machines, chairs, you name it, they pushed it up against those doors to try to stop us from coming in,” he said.
An anti-Israel demonstration has also popped up at City College in New York, where police said they arrested an additional 173 protesters on Tuesday night, according to the Post. Those arrested at Columbia University and City College face charges ranging from trespass and criminal mischief to burglary.