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 that we're seeing in both of these schools and at Columbia."
POLICE ARREST THOUSANDS AT COLLEGES ACROSS THE US TO CLEAR ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS, ENCAMPMENTS
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: "There is somebody funding this. There is somebody radicalizing our students."
During the remarks, the police chief noted that "99%" of those arrested on Friday were students.
Chell then read one piece of literature that urged students to "occupy the occupiers."
"Enter the temporary autonomous zone from New York to Gaza," another said. "Disrupt. Reclaim. Destroy Zionist business interests everywhere."
"Long live the intifada," read another.
"So this is the mindset of some of these protests for sure," Chell added.
The NYPD chief of patrol also said responding officers gave the protesters at NYU "multiple options" for them to "leave peacefully" and clear the scene without being arrested.
"A couple said, I want to be arrested," Chell said. "And we said, okay."
The chief also clarified that the operation was not a "raid," like what protesters and protesters experienced at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"The two college presidents in writing requested what they needed, what they wanted, and I wouldn't call it a raid," Chell said. "I would call it the removal of kids who were trespassing. That's what I would call it."
More than 2,000 protesters have been arrested at colleges and universities across the U.S. in recent weeks, including students, faculty, and outside agitators.
