Eric Adams warns ‘outside agitators’ descended on Columbia campus to radicalize students as over 100 arrested: ‘A global problem’
Mayor Eric Adams warned Wednesday that “outside agitators” had descended on Columbia University’s campus to radicalize students — as he vowed to fight for the American “way of life” amid pro-terror protests rocking the city’s colleges.
More than 280 anti-Israel demonstrators were cuffed at Columbia and the City of New York campuses overnight in a “massive” NYPD operation.
In total, 109 people were nabbed at the Ivy League campus after cops responded to Columbia’s request to help oust a destructive mob that had illegally taken over the Hamilton Hall academic building late Tuesday, Adams and police said.
Hizzoner blamed the on-campus chaos on insurgents who have a “history of escalating situations and trying to create chaos” instead of protesting peacefully.
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“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 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.”
Separately, 173 protesters were arrested during violent scenes at the City College of New York campus overnight, during which a mob tore down a US flag and replaced it with a Palestinian one.
“That’s our flag folks. Who would take over our buildings and put another flag up? It may be fine to other people but not to me,” Adams said.
“It’s despicable that schools will allow another country’s flag to fly in our country,” he continued. “We are not surrendering our way of life to anyone.”
Adams, who didn’t offer up names of agitators or provide further evidence, said cops were now processing the slew of arrests to “distinguish between who were actually students and who were not supposed to be on the grounds.”
Preliminary charges from both Columbia and City College range from trespass, criminal mischief and burglary, according to cops.
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Adams said the NYPD was brought in Tuesday night to quell the unrest at Columbia after the administration acknowledged outside influencers “were on their grounds training and really co-opting this movement.”
“We went in and conducted an operation to allow the university to remove those who have turned the peaceful protest into a place where antisemitism and anti-Israeli attitudes were based.”
Speaking specifically about the operation, Adams said the NYPD relied on drones, in part, to carry out a “complete analysis” of the location before moving in.
He added that cops were able to encrypt radios to ensure an “element of surprise” when they stormed in.
Columbia’s embattled president Minouche Shafik, who has faced mounting calls to resign for not cracking down sooner, issued a statement Wednesday saying the on-campus violence had “pushed the university to the brink.”
“I know I speak for many members of our community in saying that this turn of events has filled me with deep sadness. I am sorry we reached this point,” she said.
Shafik said she and the Board of Trustees made the decision to enlist the NYPD’s help after a “small group of protesters” broke into the historic hall and barricaded themselves inside.
“This drastic escalation of many months of protest activity pushed the university to the brink, creating a disruptive environment for everyone and raising safety risks to an intolerable level,” Shafik said.
“… students and outside activists breaking Hamilton Hall doors, mistreating our public safety officers and maintenance staff, and damaging property are acts of destruction, not political speech.”
Dramatic video from the scene showed cops positioning a ramp against the historic Hamilton Hall so scores of riot-gear clad officers could enter through second-floor windows.
The cuffed protesters — many of whom covered their faces with surgical masks or keffiyehs — were then marched out of the academic building, loaded onto NYPD buses and taken to 1 Police Plaza for processing.
In the wake of the mass arrests, the CUNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment group had called for protesters to rally outside the NYPD’s headquarters in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday in support of the dozens of protesters who were still locked up.
A group of roughly 200 had gathered there by mid-morning and cheered loudly every time someone was set free.
Just moments after being cut loose, one of the protesters claimed to reporters that he and his fellow cellmates had been denied water and weren’t allowed to use the bathroom overnight.
“I really needed to pee the whole damn time,” Fernando Bobis, 42, said.
Bobis, a Brown University grad who practices medicine in Washington Heights, said he was among those arrested at City College after earlier protesting at the Ivy League campus.
“Five and 1/2 hours in a holding cell with no bathroom, no water, no food. I had a hard time checking my insulin to make sure I was okay. I’m Type 1 diabetic,” he said.
