NYC Mayor Adams blames ‘outside agitators’ for anti-Jewish college campus bile

Mayor Adams blamed “outside agitators” for sparking much of the venom seen recently at campus protests and said Tuesday that his administration is working with schools to limit such activity.

During his weekly City Hall press briefing, Adams promised that the NYPD will seek out and identify those he believes are trying to use the protests “to cause violence in our city.”

“We can’t have outside agitators come in and be destructive to our city,” he said. “Someone wanted something to happen at that protest at NYU that police officers didn’t respond to.”

The mayor didn’t elaborate on how authorities determined the makeup of the crowd.

A day before, pro-Palestinian demonstrators converged on New York University to protest Israel’s seige of Gaza after Hamas slaughtered scores of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7. As police arrested dozens of protestors and cleared out their encampments, some demonstrators began throwing objects at the cops.

The protest at NYU came after similar demonstrations at Columbia University, where a protester could be heard telling Jews to “go back to Poland.” That situation led a Jewish leader to tell Jewish students not to attend classes out of safety concerns and Columbia’s President Minouche Shafik to announce that classes would be held remotely on Monday.

Adams said Tuesday that the NYPD has identified people at protests who don’t actually attend the schools where the demonstrations are taking place and added that his administration was planning to meet with college officials who would “like to participate” and learn “best practices.”

“We should address this while it is just a spark,” he said. “Let’s not wait until it’s a blazing fire.”

Adams once again asserted people’s right to assemble and protest — as long as they do so peacefully.

“You can’t break the law — like throwing bottles and chairs,” he said. “It’s not illegal, but it’s immoral to call for the destruction of anyone. I would be furious if someone was marching, calling for death to Black people. I would be furious.”

The mayor also sought to clarify language he’s used about when police will and will not go onto private campus property during demonstrations.

In recent remarks, he’s said the NYPD would step onto a campus upon a school’s request — or when there is an imminent threat, which he defined Tuesday to include starting fires, assaulting someone and destroying property.