While appearing on ABC News’ This Week over the weekend, New York City Mayor Eric Adams defended his support of campus crackdowns on anti-Israel, anti-America protesters.
“We want to ensure we protect democracy and the right to protest, but we have an obligation that when those protests reach the point of violence, … we have to ensure that we use a minimum amount of force to terminate what is perceived to be a threat not only by our intelligence but also the school and college officials,” Adams said.
“We’ll do our job, and if the institutions decide to graduate their students and celebrate a beautiful experience with their families, we will make sure it’s done in a peaceful manner,” he said.
Adams stressed that “we knew we had to get permission unless there’s imminent threat to life or severe threat to property; we were not going to overstep our legal authority.”
He emphasized that “when you’re on college grounds and you do not attend that college, you’re an outsider. And then when you train people to do destructive things, you are an agitator. So I’m not trying to be politically correct. I’m trying to be correct for the city of New York as we make sure the city continues to be safe.”
Adams stressed there is an attempt by “outside agitators” to harm New York City’s students. Adams also shared a flier found inside one of the encampments.
Watch the clip below:
NYC Mayor Eric Adams shows a flyer found at a pro-Hamas college protest that states "Death to America."
"There's a real attempt to radicalize our young people…we need to be clear that we cannot take this lightly," he explains. pic.twitter.com/IFTQgYBFSs
— Julia 🇺🇸 (@Jules31415) May 5, 2024
