Officers from the New York Police Department went to two different universities on Friday morning to clear out anti-Israel agitators and break up demonstrations they held on campus.
Officers first cleared an encampment at New York University, where they arrested several protesters and called cleaning crews to the area to remove tents and sweep away the trash left behind by the protesters.
The NYPD was then called to take similar actions at The New School in New York. After the operations, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell spoke to reporters to confirm the NYPD took the actions “at the request of school presidents” and ultimately arrested 56 people, with no incidents, between both schools.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry also spoke to reporters, saying there is “somebody” or “some organization” behind the massive movement where students and other protesters are taking over schools and academic buildings, chanting antisemitic slogans, resisting law enforcement and administrators’ orders to disperse, and getting away with little to no consequences.
“I just want to say, and I said it before, there’s somebody behind this movement,” Daughtry said. “There is some organization behind this movement. The level of organization we’re seeing in both these schools and at Columbia.”
The deputy commissioner said officers found leaflets with “all the details” provided to the protesters. “There are leaflets on how to protest leaflets or how to commit civil disobedience.
There are leaflets on what to do when you get arrested, leaflets on what to say to police,” Daughtry explained. He reiterated: “Somebody is funding this. Somebody is radicalizing our students.”
