Police Say Half of Anti-Israel Protesters Arrested At Columbia Were Not Students
Nearly half of the protesters arrested at Columbia University for engaging in violent demonstrations were not students, city officials told reporters. The police confirmed this one day after New York City Mayor Eric Adams stated that “outside agitators” were involved in the protests.
According to Police Commissioner Edward Caban, 282 protesters were arrested on Columbia University’s campus. Of the 282, 134 individuals arrested had no affiliation with Columbia or City College. Of the 112 protesters arrested at Columbia alone, 80 were students and 32 were unaffiliated agitators.
“We will not be a city of lawlessness, and we will not allow our youth to be influenced by those who have no goal other than spreading hate and wreaking havoc on our city,” Adams said in a statement.
The figures were released by the city after Adams claimed that over 40% of those who participated in the protests across New York City campuses were “outsiders.”
Among the outside individuals arrested was a 40-year-old man named James Carlson who was previously busted at demonstrations in San Francisco. He’s been dubbed a “long-time figure in the anarchist world” and in anti-government “extremist circles,” per the New York City police department.
Carlson faces third-degree burglary charges from his arrest on April 30 at Columbia. He also allegedly burned a Jewish protester’s Israeli flag outside of Columbia University. The Manhattan prosecutor’s office said Carlson is being investigated for a possible “hate crime.”
Another serial outside agitator named Rudy Ralph Martinez was among those arrested at CUNY’s Harlem campus on burglary charges. The 32-year-old man can be seen in video footage describing the October 7 attack on Israel as “one of the greatest days of [his] life.”
Martinez’s reported rap sheet includes arrests for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and refusal to disperse, according to a source who spoke to the New York Post.
Protesters with and without ties to Columbia were handed a litany of charges including obstruction, criminal mischief, resisting arrest, trespassing, and disorderly conduct.
