Adams pressed about presence of 'outside agitators' at college protests in NYC

NEW YORK (PIX11) – Mayor Eric Adams was pressed about the presence of "outside agitators" at college protests on PIX11 Morning News on Thursday.

Adams did not clarify how many "outside agitators" were at the protests when asked several times by PIX11's Dan Mannarino and Hazel Sanchez. He said that the universities were given the names of those who were arrested to determine who was a student and who wasn't.

"Shouldn't the public be aware of how many outside agitators there are that were arrested on a campus that could've moved somewhere else?" Mannarino asked.

"We did a series of arrests," Adams responded. "Several hundred arrests. We turned those names over to the institutions, particularly Columbia University."

"We don't want to release student names," Adams said. "It's up to the institutions to do that."

The NYPD was expected to reveal how many "outside agitators" were at the Columbia University and City College protests but has yet to do so as of Thursday morning.

"We have substantiated that they were outside agitators, professionals who we have documentation that they were instructing to students and using different tactics," Adams said. "They were not supposed to be participating."

The NYPD has monitored over 1,000 protests since Oct. 7, according to Adams.

"What do you say to those who were peacefully protesting, right, and are now seeing this militarization come onto their campus?" Mannarino asked.

"The cornerstone of our democracy is the right to protest," Adams answered. "No one wants to see police on college campuses, but we also don't want to see the destruction of buildings. We don't want those children hurt."

Adams also discussed Black employment in the city.