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“Professional agitators” and academia’s antisemitism saw New York City police met with projectiles and pushback when yet another university sought help to disperse the crowd with members who “chose violence.”

“They would not move, they would not let go.”

The Ivy League wasn’t alone in out of control displays of Hamas sympathies in recent days as, even after the NYPD had been brought in to disperse those entrenched at Columbia University, New York University students and professors staged their own anti-Israel demonstrations.

Video captured late Monday at NYU’s Gould Plaza showed as officers were pelted with objects that included bottles, and at one point a chair, after the Strategic Response Group had been called to the Greenwich Village school to clear out those who had refused to disperse orders from the college and then Community Affairs cops.

Tuesday on X, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry shared some of the scene himself and detailed, “When NYU asked the NYPD to clear Gould Plaza of individuals who were refusing to disperse and were ‘interfering with the safety and security of our community.,’ our officers moved in without delay. Unfortunately, as they were dispersing the crowd, some chose violence and pelted the police with bottles & chairs. The professionalism and composure our officers showed as they cleared the plaza — despite these dangerous acts of aggression they encountered — are to be commended.”

Other video circulating social media featured faculty members linking arms to block the plaza for protesters as Middle Eastern words were sung into a megaphone while elsewhere later Monday others followed and harassed officers and a chief who were said to be making an arrest.

“The faculty — from what I personally observed, and spoke to lieutenants and captains out there — the most aggressive towards the police,” said Daughtry Tuesday morning appearing on Fox 5 alongside NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Tarik Sheppard. “They would not move, they would not let go.”

Sheppard added, “I think parents have an expectation that when they send their kids to college the faculty and their professors will be teaching and not protesting. It was shocking to see the faculty out there.”

According to the New York Post, 120 people had been taken into custody with four garnering desk appearance tickets for resisting arrest and 116 slapped with trespassing summonses.

Daughtry had told the newspaper that, along with faculty members being the “most aggressive” after they were asked to clear the plaza, “professional agitators” were also on scene to “rouse up the mob mentality.”

“At this point we consider all protesters occupying Gould Plaza to be trespassers, and we would like the NYPD to clear the area and to take action to remove the protestors,” the school had indicated when they sought the aid of the police. “In the event they refuse to leave, we request the NYPD take enforcement action accordingly up to and including arrest.”

As had been the case after dispersal and arrests had occurred at other campuses, the anti-Israel protests continued the next day as more gathered at nearby Washington Square Park.

Kevin Haggerty
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