Mayor Eric Adams and top brass at the New York City Police Department condemned “outside agitators” fanning the flames of anti-Israel protests at Columbia and New York University, while police carried out new arrests.
At his regular news conference Tuesday from City Hall, Adams, a Democrat and former police officer, praised the New York Police Department’s response.
“We can’t let outside agitators come in and destroy our city,” Adams said. “Someone wanted something to happen at that protest at NYU.”
“People who demonstrate peacefully for a cause do not throw bottles at chairs,” the mayor added. “And so we know that we have recognized and seen across the country that there are people who are coming who have nothing to do with the problem and want to make the problem worse. Now, if these police officers have not demonstrated of a high level of discipline, this could have been an ugly situation.”
THE NYPD confirmed that 120 people were arrested by New York University on Monday, 116 of whom were released with summonses for trespassing.
The department identified four people who received tickets for appearing at the office: Asif Ali, 24, of Queens; Tracy Jawad, 24, of Brooklyn; Bassel Yassein, 27, of Brooklyn; and Harrison Frahn, 22, of Brooklyn. All four were charged with resisting arrest and obstructing government administration, while Ali and Yassein also face a trespassing charge.
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“What I learned during the Black Lives Matter protest, when I was informed under the previous administration that anarchists had entered the city with the determination to really disrupt and tear our city apart,” Adams said. “We strongly believe that this is the case right now, that there are people who are here. They hang out at all the demonstrations to see our police officers having bottles and chairs thrown at them.”
NYPD officers make arrests at New York University on April 22, 2024. (Selçuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Adams referenced a photo of an officer’s helmet dented after a protester hit him in the head with a chair, defending the choice to let officers maintain a presence in riot gear.
“They’re going to protect themselves against what I believe are a number of people who are really trying to use this to cause violence in our city. And we’re going to seek them out and we’re going to identify them,” the mayor added, d agreement with New York Police Commissioner Kaz Daughtry, who wondered why all the protesters had similar tents at Columbia and NYU.
“Has there been a fire sale on these tents? So there’s some organizing going on,” Adams said. “There is a very concerted organizing effort. And what is the purpose of that organization? That’s what we have to ask ourselves.”
In an appearance on WABC Tuesday morning, New York Police Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said the department had identified “known professional agitators” at Monday night’s protests who wanted to “arouse the mob mentality to agitate the police in order to get them to react, for one of them to attack one of the demonstrators so that they can have this image, ‘look, I’m being brutally attacked by the police.’
New York University (NYU) is hosting a “Free Palestine” event on April 22, 2024. (Selçuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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NYPD spokesman Tarik Sheppard, who appeared with Daughtry, described the NYPD’s reaction.
“The property owner, in this case NYU or Columbia, has to invite us in before we can just come on private property and say you’re trespassing,” Daughtry said. “If it was a public road and you were blocking traffic or if it was a public institution, we would be able to make that assessment ourselves and intervene accordingly. However, even on private property, if crimes were committed, we do not need to wait for an invitation. Obviously, if someone calls 911, we can intervene and take action.
NYPD officers hold the line at New York University on April 22, 2024. (Selçuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
NYU gave students until 4 p.m. to leave Monday, Daughtry added, describing how faculty lined up at the back of campus seemed to be “the most resistant” to the intervention of the police on the scene.
The 10 House Republicans in New York’s delegation, led by House Elise Stefanik, representative of the president of the GOPdemanded the resignation of Colombia’s President Minouche Shafik after weekend protests prompted the Ivy League school’s rabbi to warn Jewish students to return home before the start of Passover, police campus and the New York Police cannot guarantee their safety.
Columbia leaders called on the New York Police Department to arrest more than 100 people on Thursday, the day after Shafik appeared before the House Education and Personnel Committee in Washington, D.C., following the surge of anti-Semitism at the university, but protests intensified for several days afterward. during the weekend.
Police intervene and arrest more than 100 New York University (NYU) students who continue their anti-Israel protest on April 22, 2024. (Selçuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Breaking her silence Monday morning, Shafik said she preferred to hold discussions with protesters on campus without involving police, adding that “anti-Semitic remarks, like any other language used to hurt and frighten people, are unacceptable and appropriate “. will be taken.”
Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand also condemned anti-Israel protests on New York City campuses, writing in a statement Monday: “I am appalled by the virulent anti-Semitism manifest on the Columbia University campus. . Threats of violence against Jewish students and the Jewish community. are horrible, despicable and completely unacceptable. Using terrorist rhetoric has absolutely no place in New York. »
