Over half of the protesters arrested at New York University (NYU) in late April were outside agitators, the University claimed, according to CNN.
The NYPD arrested 133 individuals in Gould Plaza on April 22, only 65 were current students, faculty or staff, the university said in a Wednesday news release, according to CNN.
“I never thought that as president I would need to rely on the NYPD to secure the safety of our community,” University president Lisa G. Mills said, according to CNN. (RELATED: Pro-Palestine Protesters Leave Mess On Campus)
The NYPD clashed with protesters during the April 22 demonstrations tearing down tents and making several arrests.
#BREAKING Clashes and battles over tents – MASS ARRESTS at the NYU, ‘Liberated Zone’ encampment tents REMOVED as massive ammount of police continues to clear out the protesters.
This is happening right now.
Video by @yyeeaahhhboiii2 Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/qkUP5w22SW— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) April 23, 2024
While most arrestees were released with trespassing summonses, four were charged with resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration, an NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information spokesperson told the Daily Caller.
The revelation of outside agitators at NYU comes just one day after an NYPD press conference in which NYPD and Mayor Eric Adams claimed a large number of the 283 protesters arrested at Columbia University and City College of New York (CUNY) were also external actors.
“There are a number of different individuals who we know from over the years associated with protests not just in our city but in other cities as well who are linked to and who we see doing training around the change in tactics that we described yesterday and that we all witnessed,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence & Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner said in the presser.