Sunday marked the fifth consecutive day of protests at Columbia University.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams addressed the ongoing protests at Columbia University, condemning examples of anti-Semitism and hate speech in a statement Sunday.
“I am horrified and disgusted by the anti-Semitism that is spreading on and around the Columbia University campus,” Adams said.
Protests against the Israel-Hamas war continued on Sunday for a fifth day on a university campus in Upper Manhattan, leading to more than 100 arrests, police said.
“I have directed the NYPD to investigate any violations of law that are reported,” Adams said. “Rest assured, the NYPD will not hesitate to arrest anyone found breaking the law.”
Mayor Adams noted specific examples of hate speech, “a young woman holding a sign with an arrow pointing at Jewish students that says 'Al-Qassam's next targets,' or a woman actually yells 'We are Hamas,' or another groups of students say, 'We don't want Zionists here.' chanting”
“I strongly condemn this hate speech,” Adams said.
On Thursday, demonstrators occupied Columbia's South Lawn for more than 30 hours “in violation of university rules” and did not leave despite “multiple warnings,” Adams said at the time.
The NYPD made 108 arrests without incident, officials said Thursday. Among them, two were arrested for obstructing government administration, officials said.
The protests, which began on April 17, followed Columbia University President Minuch Shafik's testimony to the House Committee on Education and Personnel about anti-Semitism on college campuses.
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik called for Shafiq's resignation Sunday, saying Columbia University “failed to enforce their own campus rules and protect Jewish students on campus,” in a post on X, formally known as Twitter.
“While Columbia's failed leadership has spent hundreds of hours preparing for this week's congressional hearing, it is an attempt to cover up their abject failure to enforce their own campus rules and protect Jewish students on campus,” Stefanik wrote.
“President Shafik must resign immediately. And the Columbia Board must appoint a president who will protect Jewish students and enforce school policies,” Stefanik wrote.
In his statement on Sunday, Adams acknowledged how the ongoing conflict in the Middle East “has saddened and angered many of us.”
“New Yorkers have every right to express their grief, but that grief does not give anyone the right to harass or threaten others or physically harm someone they disagree with,” Adams said.
As the Jewish community celebrates the start of Passover on Monday, Mayor Adams acknowledged heightened tensions in New York.
“As the mayor of the city with the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel, the pain these protests are causing Jews around the world is not lost on me, especially as we begin Passover tomorrow evening,” Adams said, “and I will see and hear the pain of those protesting in support of the innocent lives lost in Gaza.”
Adams concluded his statement, “At this moment of heightened tension around the world, we are united against hate.”
