(ProsperNews.net) – New York Police Department (NYPD) officers raided a Columbia University college building in New York after it was occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters. No officers, staff, or students were injured in the operation that involved cops in riot gear climbing through second-floor windows and hauling away several handcuffed demonstrators.
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik wrote to the NYPD asking for help clearing Hamilton Hall after numerous requests from college officials were ignored. Shafik also told police that many of the protesters were not connected to the college but had infiltrated from outside.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams similarly blamed “outside agitators” for stirring up campus unrest in the Big Apple and across the country. Congressional lawmakers, including New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, said weak disciplinary measures and failure to enforce rules and regulations had created a campus environment where students and external operators felt “able to operate with impunity.”
Donald Trump noted the similarity between the placards held up at demonstrations, indicating that the banners were produced at the same place and by the same people. The former President suggested that unidentified sources provoked and funded the protests. Trump also said many had probably attended from outside the United States.
The President of the Association of Retired Police Officers in Washington, DC, Gerald Neill, stated that many “outside agitators” are paid to participate in protests and travel “from city to city” to do so.
However, law professor and author Timothy Zick said the term “outside agitators” is used to discredit legitimate demonstrations. Historian Angus Johnston agreed and claimed that authorities use the phrase to imply that dissent is not genuine but the work of some “shadowy figure.”
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry told reporters that the alleged agitators’ purpose is to radicalize students. He noted that officers retrieved items from the Columbia raid that would not usually be associated with students, such as helmets, hammers, ropes, and gas masks.
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