The NYPD and Mayor Eric Adams continued to charge Wednesday that the chaotic protests at Columbia University and City College were led by “outside agitators,” albeit without citing specific examples.
Photo by Dean Moses
The morning after the NYPD broke up the Columbia University and City College protests and arrested scores of demonstrators, Mayor Eric Adams and the department continued to insist Wednesday that “outside agitators” were responsible for the unrest, but without providing specific examples.
Heavily armored police quashed protesters’ siege of Hamilton Hall and the encampments set up on Columbia University and in City College, arresting 282 people at both locations. Police are still working to figure out how many students were among those locked up.
Still, Hizzoner insisted that both demonstrators were co-opted and incited by professional agitators looking to influence young New Yorkers and whip them into a violent frenzy.
“There are those who are attempting to say that the majority of people there are students, you don’t have to be the majority to influence and co-opt an operation,” Mayor Adams said. “There is a movement to radicalize young people. I’m not going to wait until it’s done, and all of a sudden acknowledge its existence.”
Adams and police said this stems back to the BLM movement and is being documented by authorities across the country. However, when asked to provide details on the “outside agitators,” they refused to do so, citing intelligence concerns.
“There are people that we have been watching and organizations that are not part of the campus,” Adams added. “We are not going to release any information that is too sensitive.”
Authorities appear to use the term “outside agitators” to describe anyone in the protest who is not officially a student.
Holding up a letter from Columbia University that requested police intervention, Adams and the NYPD claimed that the outside…
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