The New York City Police Department released a video showing a professional “protest consultant” who has been seen in other social media videos giving instructions to a crowd of anti-Israel agitators as they occupied Hamilton Hall at Columbia University Monday night.
Mayor of New York City Eric Adams spoke about outside agitators at a news conference Tuesday evening.
“What should have been a peaceful protest, was essentially hijacked by outside professional agitators. We were extremely cautious in releasing our information, as our goal was to ensure the safety of students and faculty, without destruction of property .,” Adams said. “We have already sounded the alarm several times against external actors who tried to hijack this private demonstration.”
Adams and members of his administration shared information about outside actors creating “serious public safety concerns” during the protests.
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“These external actors are obviously not students, and their presence on campus constitutes a violation of Columbia’s clearly defined policy,” Adams said. “This group…is an outside agitator who has consistently escalated the situation and attempted to create chaos. We believe they are now actively co-opting what should be a peaceful gathering. This is to further their own agenda. They are not. not here to promote peace or unity or to allow everyone to express their voice peacefully. They are here to create discord and division.
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The mayor urged everyone involved to step aside “now.”
During the news conference, police said some of the outside agitators had been known to the New York Police Department for years, adding that they had seen an escalation in tactics that police believed were the result of tips from external agitators.
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For example, police see barricades built with furniture, destroyed cameras, disarrest tactics, destruction of property, and signs used to fortify and create shields.
Police said that although these tactics were revealed last night at Columbia University, they expect them to continue at universities in New York and across the country.
In a video shown during the press event, Lisa Fithian, 63, watches as a group of protesters chant anti-Israel slogans.
“We’re trying to show that they’re assholes,” Lisa Fithian told the cameraman. “You’re right. They’re assholes.”
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Fithian is a professional “protest consultant” who has been arrested more than 80 times, Laura Ingraham of “The Ingraham Angle” said on her show Tuesday night.
Fithian has reportedly participated in climate change protests, Occupy Wall Street and now the Free Palestine movement.
After midnight Tuesday, Fithian was seen on video giving instructions to a crowd of anti-Israel agitators as they seized an academic building at Columbia University.
In one video clip, protesters were seen carrying a table, while in the background Fithian could be heard saying: “I can’t help with this. You can help with this.”
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In another clip, the crowd was seen tying a piece of furniture to the door of a building, while Fithian told people with cameras to move back.
On “The Ingraham Angle” Tuesday evening, Ingraham spoke with Ira Stoll, founder and editor-in-chief of theeditors.com, about Fithian and what she gets out of being involved in training the next generation of activists.
“Some of the people involved are getting paid money,” Stoll said, explaining that he recently wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal about how these groups advertise for fellows to receive $3,000 to work eight hours a week for three months on campus. across the United States “Some of the people who played significant roles in these protests were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the Soros Open Society Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
“So there is a lot of money behind these protests,” Stoll added.
He also explained how many of the people attending the anti-Israel protests taking place on campuses like Columbia University are the same people attending the Black Lives Matter protests, as well as the anti-Trump protests.
“These are the same people protesting. I’ve seen them,” Stoll said. “They just like to protest.”
He compared it to people who go out on weekends to play sports or attend religious services.
“This is an activity for these people, and until the revolution is accomplished, they will not stop, or until they are in prison,” he said.
Original article source: NYPD releases video showing professional ‘protest consultant’ at Columbia University
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