BREAKING NEWS: NYC Mayor, NYPD Officials Hold Press Briefing About Columbia Building Takeover

4 months ago

NYC Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD officials hold a press briefing about the ongoing crisis at Columbia University.

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Transcript

00:00All right. Good evening, everybody. You're about to hear from Mayor Adams, the Police

00:16Commissioner Caban, and our Commissioner for Intel, Deputy Commissioner Weiner on the situation

00:22up at Columbia as it stands now. So first up will be Mayor Eric Adams.

00:28Thank you. Thank you. I have been saying for days, if not weeks now, that we should

00:41have been a peaceful protest. It has basically been co-opted by professional outside agitators.

00:54We were extremely cautious about releasing our intel information because our goal was

01:06to ensure the safety of our students, the faculty, and without any destruction of property.

01:17And we are here today to update New Yorkers about the ongoing situation at Columbia University

01:25and our plans to protect students, our staff, and the public. And we were well aware, based

01:34on a series of observations, that what should have been a peaceful protest that is part

01:42of the constitutional rights of Americans has clearly been co-opted, a right which this

01:54administration supports and defends to voice your concern. But we also will continue, and

02:03we have sounded the alarm numerous times before about external actors who are attempting to

02:11hijack this protest. Tonight, we're here to show you some example of these external

02:18actors who have no, no affiliation with Columbia University as well as some of our other educational

02:30facilities. And they are actively creating serious public safety issues at these protests.

02:41We see some of the students involved don't understand what they are involved in. We urge

02:47those and everyone else violating Columbia's order to leave the area and leave the area

02:54now. And if you are a parent or guardian of a student, please call your child and urge

03:03them to leave the area before the situation escalates in any way. This is for their own

03:12safety and for the safety of others. These external actors are obviously not students

03:24and their presence on campus is a violation of Columbia's clearly stated policy. As the

03:33police commissioner and our deputy commissioner for intel and counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner

03:41will detail, you will see why this is of concern to us. This group and the individuals we're

03:50going to, one that we're going to show is an outside agitator with a history of escalating

03:58the situation and trying to create chaos. It is our belief we are now actively co-opting

04:08what should be a peaceful gathering. This is to serve their own agenda. They're not

04:15here to promote peace or unity or allow a peaceful displaying of one's voice. But they're

04:22here to create discord and divisiveness. That is why I'm urging every student and every

04:30protestor to walk away from this situation now and continue your advocacy through other

04:38means. We will always protect the right to protest, but we must balance that right with

04:45the right to keep students, the school, and our city safe. We cannot and will not allow

04:53what should be peaceful, a peaceful gathering, to turn into a violent spectacle that serves

05:00no purpose. We cannot wait until this situation becomes even more serious. This must end now.

05:10I'm going to now turn it over to Commissioner Caban.

05:16Thank you very much, Mayor Adams, and good evening, everyone. Over the past two weeks

05:25or so, this has been a dynamic, evolving situation, and we have been in contact with university

05:31officials from the beginning. Again, we are talking about private property, so decisions

05:37on what to do on that property are up to the university. With that being said, what

05:43we saw last night and into today is not acceptable. Furthermore, and this is very important, as

05:52the mayor has said, we are seeing professional external actors getting involved in these

05:57protests, including in the occupation of a university building. These people are not

06:03Columbia students. They are not affiliated with the university, and they are working

06:08to escalate the situation. We are seeing the tactics changing in a way that's endangering

06:14public safety. These once peaceful protests are being exploited by professional outside

06:20agitators, and the safety of all students, faculty, and staff are now a concern. The

06:29right to protest and speak your mind is critical to our democracy, and the NYPD's job is to

06:35protect that right. We will never tolerate violence, property damage, or disruption of

06:42emergency services, and as we've said, once the university asks for our help, the NYPD

06:49will be there ready to assist them. Finally, to the parents, and I say this as a father

06:57of a college student myself, be aware of where your children are. Be aware of what they're

07:03involved in, and if you don't know, reach out to them. The university and the NYPD are

07:10taking this situation seriously. You should be taking this situation seriously too. Thank

07:15you.

07:16Good evening, everybody. So as the mayor and the police commissioner have just been outlining,

07:25we've observed, and you all have as well, a really concerning escalation of activity

07:30associated with campus protests broadly, and in particular with Columbia University over

07:36the past 24 hours. And this escalation presents a real threat to public safety. So I want

07:41to make two points. One is to reiterate what the mayor and the police commissioner have

07:46mentioned, that these protests have been and are being influenced by external actors who

07:52are unaffiliated with universities, some of whom have been known to our department

07:58and others for many years for their dangerous, disruptive, and at times criminal activity

08:03associated with protests for years. So this is not about what's happening overseas. It's

08:10not about the last seven months. It's about a very different commitment to at times violent

08:19protest activity as an occupation. A number of university partners have reported to us

08:26in New York and also across the country that significant portions of their protestor populations

08:33are unaffiliated with their schools. They haven't got a right to be on campus, and this

08:37violates university policies. And most importantly, it presents dangers to students and to the

08:44whole university communities where it's happening. And second, we see an escalation in tactics.

08:51And when we see what we saw last night, I'm going to show you a few examples, and they

08:56exemplify some of the behavior that we're seeing in a much more holistic way. We think

09:02these tactics are a result of guidance that's being given to students from some of these

09:09external actors. So we see individuals in black block attire, scaling buildings, breaking

09:15into windows, barricades being made out of furniture or being dragged from the lawn into

09:23Hamilton Hall, cameras that have been destroyed. And there's only one reason to destroy a camera.

09:29It's certainly not something anyone is taught to do in school. De-arresting tactics being

09:34encouraged, property destruction, signs being fortified into shields, reports of physical

09:41altercations between individuals and other forms of intimidation. This has gone to the

09:47next level, and we have real cause for concern. And I want to point out that this is an escalation

09:53that while it began last night at Columbia, we do expect it to continue beyond one building

10:01on one campus, but to other protests, to other universities, potentially to other cities.

10:08We are in constant dialogue with Columbia University officials as well as other partners,

10:14and we are as always fully prepared to respond. So we want to reiterate that our priority

10:19is and always will be public safety for all. And I'm going to show you what is a two-minute

10:25video clip. And again, some of this may be a little bit hard to interpret, but it shows

10:31us who've been looking at this stuff for quite some time, two things. One is the presence

10:36of some external folks who are not affiliated with school, and the second is the evolution

10:42and the change in tactics that we witnessed last night. So if we could go ahead and play

10:49the video. There's a little bit of sound, which I'll try to narrate over. So this is

10:59two students who are trying to prevent the hall from being broken into, being intimidated

11:06by some others, as well as some of the external actors that we have been talking about, making

11:13a barrier to be dragged into Hamilton Hall. Here is an example of two individuals breaking

11:21into windows. Again, the black block attire is something that we've seen in protest activity

11:28for quite some time, barricades that are being dragged into Hamilton Hall. Again, people

11:35unaffiliated with the school who are assisting in allowing them entry. Some training sessions

11:42that are occurring within the encampment itself. You know, that is something that the university

11:49has been very clear, that only university students are to be allowed within the encampment.

11:54And these are just some still shots of some of the property destruction that we saw within

11:59Hamilton Hall. The windows breaking, the barricading, using furniture to prevent ingress and egress.

12:09And you know, you can see quite obviously that this is a public safety concern for the

12:14students themselves, for the protesters themselves, for anybody else on campus. The broken windows,

12:22more barricades, human beings chained together to try to prevent entry into the buildings.

12:29So this is far beyond First Amendment protected speech and peaceful protest, which has been

12:38a key element of some of these things over the last few months. A lot of people involved,

12:44some of them are known to us, and others are reported by university officials to be unaffiliated

12:52with campus. So that is why we are urging people to take this opportunity to leave Hamilton

13:01Hall and just to reiterate that we are here to make things and keep things safe for our

13:07city. So thank you.

13:09All right, so we'll make this video available to you immediately after this press conference,

13:19but for now we'll take just a few questions on topic only.

13:24Miles Bell, if the NYPD were to go to Columbia, what charges would the students face and does

13:33this message to leave Columbia now have a time table attached to it?

13:41You know, so we are in ongoing dialogue with officials and of course stand ready to come

13:48in if we are invited in. And of course, some of this activity, we would need to review

13:54the specific facts to see what charges might be appropriate. But in particular for folks

13:59who are unaffiliated with the university, you know, it certainly looks to be like a

14:05trespass situation. And depending on their involvement in the video will help us understand

14:11the full suite of their activity. There may be charges associated with the property destruction

14:16and the vandalism as well.

14:18And Commissioner Dorsey has been in touch with legal, so let him.

14:23Good evening. For the individuals that are inside of Hamilton Hall, they will be charged

14:29with burglary in the third degree, criminal mischief, and trespassing. For the individuals

14:35that are in the encampments outside, they will be charged with trespassing and disorderly

14:41conduct.

14:42Who else?

14:43Yes, could you tell us a little bit more about these people that you're describing,

14:44what they've involved in the past, and also what strategies are used to identify and connect

14:45these people who are often putting their faces with the people you've seen for years? Cameras

14:46or other technology, similar comprehensive pictures. This is something we've heard like

14:47during the court proceedings too, of how we know who these people are and what their

14:48histories are.

14:49So in some cases, it's just through sheer force of being present at these protests over

15:18years, whether it was Occupy Wall Street, the Autonomous Zone in 2020, other protests

15:26around the country, Stop Cop City in Atlanta. So individuals who are familiar. And in other

15:33cases we rely on partner reporting to say this is individuals that are known to us.

15:38So this is a collaborative effort. But as most of our work is, it involves our officers

15:46who do this better than anyone, who have been doing it repeatedly over many months,

15:52and in some cases over many years.

15:54Mark Morales?

15:55Hi, I had two questions. One was, could you walk us through some of these conversations

15:56that are going on with university officials? How often are you talking to them? And when

15:57you talk to them about this, what are they actually saying to you? I imagine that this

15:58has been communicated.

15:59But the other question I had is, as far as the people, these professional educators who

16:20are in Hamilton right now, how many of them are in that encampment? How many of them are

16:27in another place?

16:28All right. So, Mark, I have the police commissioner address the first part of your question, and

16:33then I'll have Commissioner Weiner address the second part.

16:37Thank you, Mark. I just want to reiterate that we're in constant dialogue with the officials

16:40of Columbia University. So right now there is no timetable. We have no letters from them.

16:46We are here, ready to assist them whenever they need our help.

16:49But when you show them this, have they said anything to you now?

16:54Right now, so just constant dialogue. Right now, they're in contact, or they're in constant

16:59dialogue with the students themselves, trying to alleviate the situation. We are here, ready

17:04to assist them whenever they're ready to ask for our help.

17:07Hold on, hold on. Let Commissioner Weiner address the second part of it. How many of

17:12the ratios that Columbia is saying they see?

17:15You know, our visibility into what's going on is limited, right, by the fact that we're

17:19not physically present within the campus. And so it's hard to answer your question with

17:24any degree of specificity. So we know the ones we know, but we can't have a full accounting

17:30for what's going on. And, you know, the fact of cameras being disabled further complicates

17:36our ability to assess the public safety risks in real time.

17:39And at least how many of the ones you know? How many?

17:43Mark, the Commissioner's been pretty thorough with that one, all right?

17:46All right, final question. Kelly, New York One.

17:48I have two questions. I know you talked about the timeline, but Columbia has a commencement

17:53ceremony coming up on the 15th. Has the University President said that they want that done before

17:58that date, or on that date? And then I just wanted to ask, those outside agitators at

18:04Hamilton Hall, is the NYPD going to deal with them differently than they would the other

18:09ones at the encampment?

18:10All right, I'll let Commissioner Deutry answer the second part of your question. I think

18:13what the Commissioner just said applies to the first part, is that we're in constant

18:17contact, but right now we have not received any communication from the University that

18:21they want us to take action on that campus.

18:24Just to echo what the Commissioner Shepard said, I mean, we said it a couple times up

18:28here already. As soon as the University reaches out to us, we're more than willing and able

18:33to help them. As far as the second part of your question, we're going to treat them just

18:37like we did when we went into NYU, when we went into Columbia the first time. There was

18:41no incidents. Our officers went in there and performed admirably as they were under attack

18:46by bottles, chairs, tables. So we expect that. However, Police Commissioner Caban's Police

18:55Department is ready to take action when needed. Thank you.

18:58All right, so if there's a need to update, we will, but thanks for everybody for right

19:03now. All right, thank you.

19:07Yes, sir.

BREAKING NEWS: NYC Mayor, NYPD Officials Hold Press Briefing About Columbia Building Takeover

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