New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and the governors of other states where college students are protesting are to blame for the escalation of campus protests, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik told Newsmax Saturday.
"I blame this strictly on the leadership of New York City and the governor of New York City and the governors in the states where these campuses are," Kerik said on "Wake Up America Weekend."
"First of all, anybody that engages in violence should be arrested. If [former New York City Mayor] Rudy Giuliani was still in office and I was still the police commissioner in New York City, we mowed down these campuses and all the garbage in them, get everything out, and then lock up anybody that engages in violence.
"These kids are emboldened right by no accountability. There's absolutely none," he continued.
"What we're watching right now is exactly what happened on campuses in the '60s and '70s with the Black Liberation Army, the Black Panther Party, the Weather Underground, the anti-American rhetoric; it's exactly the same.
"Today, they are tolerating it. And in doing so, they're emboldening every one of these idiots that are out there doing this, and the people funding it; the people funding these operations should be locked up for doing so," Kerik said.
Student protests against the Israel-Hamas war continue at universities nationwide, with some demonstrations resulting in clashes between protesters and law enforcement. Students are demanding that universities sever financial ties with Israel and divest from companies they deem complicit in the conflict.
Amid the protests, Jewish students express fear of antisemitism and violence, prompting at least some condemnation from faculty members at several universities. Despite calls for intervention from university presidents, protesters remain resolute in their demands, vowing to persist with their demonstrations.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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