Almost half of anti-Israel agitators arrested at Columbia, City College weren't students: report

Almost half of the anti-Israel agitators arrested at Columbia University and the City College of New York arrested during violent protests on their campuses weren't students, according to the New York Post. 

NYPD arrested 282 protesters during a raid on Thursday, of which 134 had no affiliation with either school, the Post reported, citing law enforcement sources.

Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly warned that "outside agitators" had infiltrated the anti-Israel encampments and were responsible for radicalizing students. 

"“What was given to me by my team, a preliminary review of the numbers, just the beginning process of analyzing, but it appears, though, that over 40% of those who participated in Columbia and CUNY were not from the school and they were outsiders,” Adams told NPR in an interview. 

Earlier, the mayor had said professional agitators were responsible for the occupation of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, in addition to students. 

"This is a global problem that young people are being influenced by those who are professionals at radicalizing our children and I’m not going to allow that to happen as the mayor of the city of New York,” he said Wednesday.