Police raided the campuses of Columbia University and City College Tuesday into Wednesday morning and made more than 280 arrests while taking down encampments and removing protesters from an occupied building at Columbia.
Mayor Eric Adams is blaming outside agitators not affiliated with Columbia for turning peaceful protests into the takeover and vandalism at Columbia's Hamilton Hall which he says put the safety of students and faculty at risk. Adams says the agitators are looking to radicalize students.
"We must push back on all attempts to radicalize our young people in the city like we are seeing across the globe."
Those arrested include students, agitators and the wife of a convicted terrorist. Columbia is asking the NYPD to remain on campus until a couple days after the May 15th graduation.