NYPD said majority of people arrested at April 30 Columbia protest were students | Fact check
The claim: NYPD said majority of protestors arrested April 30 at Columbia weren't students
A May 1 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a man reacting to a Post Millennial article about arrests made at Columbia University during anti-war protests.
"JUST IN: Majority of arrests at Columbia University's Gaza Camp were not students," reads the article's headline.
The post's caption reads, "NYPD Announce Far Leftists Arrested At Columbia NOT STUDENTS, PAID Leftist Agitators STARTED Riots."
The post garnered more than 100 shares in less than two weeks. Other versions of the claim were shared on Facebook.
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Our rating: False
The NYPD said the majority of protestors arrested at Columbia on April 30 were students. They didn't label the people unaffiliated with the university as "leftist agitators," as the post claims.
Post misrepresents NYPD arrest statistics
The NYPD arrested 112 protestors at Columbia University during the pro-Palestinian protests on April 30, according to a press release from Mayor Eric Adams' office. Those arrested were charged with crimes including burglary, obstructing governmental administration and criminal mischief.
But the majority of those arrested at Columbia – 71% – were students, not outsiders, according to the release from the mayor and the NYPD. Of the people arrested, 80 were students, and 32 were not.
Fact check: Misspelled pro-Palestinian message is from Canadian protest, not Columbia
The majority of people arrested at the nearby City College of New York, however, were not students, according to the release. There, 68 of the 170 people arrested, or 40%, were students.
Nowhere does the release call the people not affiliated with the universities "leftist agitators." NYPD commissioner Edward Caban referred to them as "professional outsiders," "external actors" and individuals "not affiliated with either the institutions or campuses in question." He said the outsiders were "working to escalate the situation" and exploiting once-peaceful protests.
There are no credible reports of the NYPD calling them "leftist agitators" elsewhere.
The non-student group was also referred to as "outside agitators" by the mayor in an April 30 press briefing and "outside activists" by Columbia University President Minouche Shafik in a May 1 statement.
The Post Millennial article doesn't provide any evidence to back up the claim.
USA TODAY reached out to the Post Millennial and the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Lead Stories also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
Columbia University Office of the President, May 1, A Message from President Minouche Shafik
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Majority of Columbia arrests by NYPD were students | Fact check