New York Police Department Chief of Patrol John Chell told Newsmax he's more concerned about the 500 Columbia University students who left class Thursday to taunt police than the 108 peaceful protesters arrested for setting up an encampment on the South Lawn of Columbia University.
"This started Wednesday morning about 9 o'clock when there were protesters outside the school and then students took over the West Lawn inside the school and made a tent city," Chell told Newsmax TV's "American Agenda," of the pro-Palestinian demonstration.
"That went on during the day as the school was negotiating with the students … at 9 o'clock that night, the order was given by the school, 'If you don't leave, you'd be suspended.' The kids stayed on.
"Then throughout the night, we had calls with Columbia on how we're going to strategize this properly. By 10 o'clock the next morning, they gave us a verbal and a written statement as to what they wanted. They wanted to remove the rest of the trespassing."
"We went there. We had a plan. We took 108 kids out of there and the kids that were protesting, we might not agree with their stance, but they were doing it peacefully," he said. "They were arrested peacefully. They got up. They were handcuffed.
"The more concerning part was the class of about 500 kids who left school and surrounded us, and the vitriol comments coming out of their mouth and the hatred for Israel and for the cops was sad from the standpoint of a father.
"My kids were in college a couple of years ago, and I couldn't imagine my kids acting that way, and if this is a representation of that school or any school, you know, we have some issues here. It was sad to see, but the flawless execution by the police department and the school in terms that they're with us to get the kids out of there, got their summons. There was no issues, no scuffles. It was a strategy well done."
The protesters Wednesday were calling for the school's divestment from economic and academic stakes in Israel. Protests have resumed and tensions over free speech continue to rise since the war between Israel and Hamas started in October.
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