Mayor Eric Adams warned Friday that “outside agitators” could swarm the Big Apple to plunge planned “No Kings Day” rallies into chaos — with several protests expected across the city this weekend, sources told The Post.
“We are clear there’s a body of people who are here just to create chaos,” Adams said during a security briefing with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch about the nationwide demonstrations set to take place Saturday.
Protest organizers estimate more than 75,000 protesters will take to the streets in New York City as part of what they described as “a national day of action and mass mobilization in response to the increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption of the Trump administration.”
The NYPD has identified over 10 different protests organized across the five boroughs, which are expected to converge in Midtown’s Bryant Park Saturday as part of the nationwide demonstrations, according to the law-enforcement sources.
The rallies are expected to be largely peaceful, but the NYPD is cautious of “malicious actors that will attempt to do civil disobedience and will try to motivate the crowd to do hostile actions,” the sources said.
Adams compared the expected “outside agitators” to the ones who stormed Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall last spring alongside pro-Palestinian protesters and during the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement.
“They were training people to have glass bottles filled with ice, bricks, knapsacks, all of the tools that are used to aggravate … Outside agitators go in, they start riling up the crowd, they start throwing items at the police, they start doing things to get the police aggravated,” Adams said.
“When you have 5,000 people on the street, all you need is 20 to be an outside agitator. You don’t need 4,999. You have a small number of people that are professionals,” he said.
Thousands of NYPD officers will be deployed ahead of the event, according to Tisch, though she wouldn’t give an exact number.
“It will be a nationwide day of protest, and we expect to see large crowds protesting across the city. The NYPD is prepared. Thousands of officers will be available to safeguard these protests. We have planned around the clock to ensure that those officers are deployed to the right places, at the right times,” she said.
The top cop also issued a stern warning.
“For those who intend to commit crimes tomorrow, who are coming here to incite violence, to cause property damage, to attack our cops, you will be met with the full strength and determination of the greatest police department in the world,” Tisch said.
“And for those of you peacefully protesting who see others engaged in unlawful activity, my message is clear: Do not join them. Do not turn your exercise of cherished First Amendment rights into criminal conduct.”
Additional cops have also already been posted outside Jewish places of worship and cultural centers following Israel’s Thursday attack on Iran, authorities said.
The Port Authority will be beefing up security at the George Washington Bridge and Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, as well as bus terminals and PATH stations, officials said.
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