The head of a radical organization in favor of the Cuban regime and that also openly supports the Hamas terrorist group in New York, was arrested Tuesday after the NYPD evicted an anti-Israel camp at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.
A video posted by TPF on X, formerly Twitter depicts Manolo De Los Santos, executive director of The People's Forum (TPF), an anti-Israel organization that sympathizes with the Chinese Communist Party, was arrested by several NYPD officers wearing riot helmets near the institute's campus on West 27th Street.
The NYPD arrested 50 protesters during the FIT riots, but it is unclear if De Los Santos is included in these arrests. Officers approached the crowd about 10 minutes after warning them to leave the campus or be charged with trespassing.
On April 29, more than 100 masked activists met in Manhattan at the office of the TPF, an organization backed by American businessman Neville Roy Singham, a self-proclaimed socialist known for financially supporting left-wing causes, to plan their next moves, while protests Anti-Israel protests reach a fever pitch across the country.
Manolo De Los Santos urged the group to "give Joe Biden a hot summer" and "make it unsustainable for politics as usual in this country." Likewise, he asked to recreate “the summer of 2020,” in reference to the violence that besieged major cities in the United States months after the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
A few hours after the meeting was called, dozens of protesters illegally broke into Columbia University's Hamilton Hall and gained entry through a glass-paneled door that one of those involved broke with a hammer.
Police arrived at the scene after being called by Columbia President Minouche Shafik. In total, 44 people were arrested, including two university staff members and 13 "outsiders" who were not affiliated with the school, Columbia confirmed in a news release Thursday.
The People's Forum, an organization that describes itself as “a movement incubator for working class and marginalized communities,” has been a mainstay of anti-Israel protests since Hamas' attack on the Jewish state on October 7, 2023.
Related Story: Anti-Israel Activists Behind Columbia University Protests Trained in Cuba for Years
