NYPD Chief Says ‘There Was No Danger to Any Students’ at the Cooper Union Pro-Palestine Protest

EXCERPT:

CHELL: "Good morning. Just in regards to Cooper Union, and we got a couple of key facts right before I give you a quick timeline. We were aware of the walk-out protest rally at the school yesterday. School officials asked us to be there, our police were there from start to finish. The school asked us that we would be in plainclothes, and that's protocol that we're gonna change and talk to all the schools citywide about that protocol. There was no direct threats, there was no damage, and there’s no danger to any students in that school. Like I said, our cops were there all day, from start to finish, they were with the 20 protesters that were in the school. They were there at the library. The library doors, they were not — the students were not barricaded. The doors were open but closed, and school administrator thought it was prudent to close the doors and place private security as the protesters were coming down the stairs. So at approximately 1:00 o'clock, the protest started in front of Cooper U, it was a walkout of students, roughly 70 pro-Palestine, about 20 Israeli students — if you can imagine, parallel to each other.“