Campus Protest 'Agitators' Remain Elusive, Despite Outsider Arrests

NEW YORK CITY — How many "outside agitators" were among the protesters rounded up during raids on pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University and City College of New York remained unclear, despite reported breakdowns of arrests.

Nearly half of protesters — 134 people of 282 total — arrested in the Tuesday night crackdowns didn't go to either school, according to reports, citing unnamed NYPD sources.

But outlets, notably the New York Daily News, pointed out the figures lacked many details, including on where exactly people were arrested. Others pointed out CUNY's campus was publicly accessible before the crackdowns.

Students or outsiders, some of the 282 protesters arrested Tuesday night remain in custody despite a long-standing court ruling that set a 24-hour standard from arrest to arraignment, Legal Aid Society representatives said Thursday. The NYPD also charged protesters on low-level offenses who should've, under current law, received an appearance ticket in lieu of arrest, Legal Aid added.

"Lawyers from various public defender offices and other organizations were present in court last night and ready to quickly arraign everyone but many protesters were not produced," the organization wrote in a statement.

The confusion and condemnations weren't necessarily helped by Mayor Eric Adams, who appeared to struggle during a media blitz with a seemingly simple question: how many "outside agitators" — his and the schools' main justification for deploying the NYPD — were arrested during the Tuesday night raids.

Adams had varying answers.

"It appears as though over 40 percent of those who participated in Columbia and CUNY were not from the school and they were outsiders," he said on NPR.

On NY1, Adams had another answer: "I don't think that matters."

During an appearance on CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront, Adams argued that New Yorkers should ask Columbia exactly how many protesters were not affiliated with the school.

“We are going to give the complete list of those who were arrested and turn it over to the school, and the school will make the determination,” Adams said. “We're not going to release students' names, but the school can make the determination of giving you a breakdown or turning publicly the difference between students and non-students. They will have that authorization to do so."

The New York Post reported that three people, including one who worked at City College, arrested in the Columbia and CUNY raids had participated in past protests. But it was unclear whether they were the "outsider agitators" to whom Adams referred.

One of those people — a 40-year-old man — was arrested within Hamilton Hall, the academic building occupied by protesters, the Post reported. He was also connected to the burning of an Israel flag outside Columbia's campus, the outlet reported.

Adams appeared to switch the narrative during a Thursday appearance on Good Day New York, stating that, while the NYPD has "identified some" outsiders involved in the protests, the mayor is now looking at professors capable of radicalizing students.

"If you have one bad professor educating 30, 40, 50 college students with inappropriate actions, you don't need 50 bad professors speaking to 50 students," Adams said.

Viral videos from NYPD raids on the protests undercut police officials' assertion that the arrests of nearly 300 people largely unfolded peacefully. Cops appear to shove students down stairs, push them to the ground and rush into crowds in videos posted from the raids late Tuesday.

The arrests largely unfolded as the NYPD blocked most reporters' access to the raids — a move many saw as a deliberate attempt by police brass to sanitize a violent crackdown.

"Students were brutally arrested," tweeted Samaa Khullar, a student journalist at Columbia, who contended she and other press were hit, shoved and forcibly shunted away from the raids.

"Any news outlet that is reporting these were 'peaceful arrests' is blatantly lying."

Presumed 'Outside Agitator' Involvement Nothing New

The threat of "outside agitators" taking advantage of protests and radicalizing youth has been peddled by law enforcement officials for decades and can be traced back to the Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd in 2020 and Civil Rights Movement demonstrations.

Last week, Adams pitched a conspiracy theory that identical tents across multiple encampment protests serve as prime evidence of a "well-concerted organizing effort" from "outside agitators" working behind the scenes.

"Why is everybody’s tent the same?" Hizzoner asked. "There’s some organizing going on.”

A quick search by a Patch reporter found that the Camel Crown tent, which has been captured repeatedly in images of Columbia's encampment protest, is listed for as low as $25 on Amazon. Another often-spotted tent, notably at NYU’s Gould Plaza, is listed for $15 on Five Below’s website. Read more: Mayor Pitches Tent Conspiracy Theory Over NYC Campus Protest Camps

Perhaps most notably, officials contended that bike locks and chains used by protesters to barricade the doors at Hamilton Hall were evidence that some sort of professional agitators had instigated the building's takeover early Tuesday morning.

"This is not what students bring to school," Sheppard said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," holding up a heavy-duty chain and lock.

"This is what professionals bring to campuses and universities."

But many students and reporters quickly pointed out that those chains and locks were, in fact, sold to Columbia students by the university. (The lock program's site can be found here.)

The wife of a prominent Palestinian activist, Nahla Al-Arian, 63, was one of the influential “agitators” referenced by Adams Wednesday, though the Associated Press reports she wasn’t arrested (or set foot on campus this week) and hasn’t been accused of a crime.

Al-Arian’s husband, Sami Al-Arian, a former computer engineering professor, was arrested in 2003 and was charged with allegedly supporting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in the 1980s and 1990s. A jury later declined to convict him of any charges.

A photo of Nahla Al-Arian visiting the Columbia University encampment while on an unrelated trip to New York City — shared on X by her husband — rapidly sparked allegations of terrorism in connection with the student protesters.

“The whole thing is a distraction because they are very scared that the young Americans are aware for the first time of what’s going on in Palestine,” she told the outlet. “They are the ones who influenced me. They are the ones who gave me hope that at last the Palestinian people can get some justice.”