Who's really behind the campus protests? Expensive tents, giant banners and ... trends now
Anti-Israel protests across US college campuses have shaken the nation over the last weeks, systemically setting up illegal encampments and sparking questions about the money behind the demonstrations.
Organized encampments have appeared across the country's most respected universities after first showing up at Columbia in New York City. Violent clashes between protesters and police have followed at various schools including UCLA and the University of Texas at Austin.
Many have pointed fingers at a company called Crowds on Demand, which provides paid protesters as a service, accusing it of hiring left-wing agitators to manufacture the movement.
But in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, CEO Adam Swart denied that his company has any involvement with the protests, and has actually denied requests from both sides.
'We've been inundated with requests by both sides. Not just in regards to the campuses, but just broadly in regards to this Israel-Palestine issue, we've been getting tons of requests over the past few months,' Swart said on Tuesday.
'We have heard from grown ups who want to do activity on college campuses... lots of requests, including from very high profile wealthy donors on on both sides to get involved.'
Organized encampments have appeared across the country's most respected universities after first showing up at Columbia in New York City
Crowds on Demand CEO Adam Swart said the similar tents at the protest are a sign there are larger groups funding the demonstrations
Crowds on Demand, however, is not accepting any requests related to the war in Gaza, Swart added, because it's not the kind of issue he likes to get involved in. Swart emphasized that his company only hires protesters who already believe in a cause but may not be able to afford spending their day at a protest.
While his company is not taking the jobs, Swart believes someone is, because as an expert on this type of operation, he recognizes the telltale signs pointing to big money behind a cause, like similar tents and expensive banners seen at Columbia University over the last week.
'I do, to be clear, think there is money behind the pro-Palestine protests - 100 percent. I'm just saying we're staying out of it,' he said.
Swart said it's possible for tax-exempt advocacy organizations to not disclose their donors, and thus anyone could be funding their causes, opening the door to enemy foreign powers like China or Russia to sow discord in the US.
Swart denied that his company has any involvement with the anti-Israel campus protests
'If this is coming from abroad, and I believe that it might be in some part, that is very troubling,' he added.
The People's Forum, a tax-exempt advocacy group who often hosts propaganda events for the regimes of countries like Venezuela and Cuba, has been accused of being behind the Columbia protests.
The Washington Free Beacon reports the group, which has received $12million from Goldman Sachs, may have provided materials for the so-called occupation of Hamilton Hall.
Over 100 masked activists met at the group's Manhattan headquarters, a base for all kinds of leftist activism, to plan their moves on Monday, participating in breakout sessions that taught 'resistance' methods.
There, People’s Forum executive director Manolo De Los Santos told the group to 'give Joe Biden a hot summer' and 'make it untenable for the politics of usual to take place in this country.'
He then claimed 'Zionist' Columbia administrators 'want to be more like their masters in Israel.'
Daniel DiMartino, a PhD student at Columbia and a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told DailyMail.com The People's Forum is a group that aims to lobby for enemies of the US.
A Crowd on Demand protest is seen above. Swart emphasized his company only hires protesters who already believe in a cause but may not be able to afford protesting
'The People's Forum is one of several foreign-funded organizations whose goal is to create havoc in America and defend tyrannical regimes like China's, Russia's, Cuba's and Venezuela's,' the Venezuela native said.
'I saw it firsthand when they hosted employees and officials from the Venezuelan socialist regime in 2022 in New York City. They don't care about human rights, not of Palestinians or Jews and certainly not of Venezuelans.'
The New York Times reported last year that the Chinese Community Party was indirectly funding the People's Forum.
Meanwhile New York mayor Eric Adams has warned that outside agitators have been instructing students as they took over Hamilton hall in Columbia.
'What should have been a peaceful protest, it has basically been co-opted by professional outside agitators,' he said.
A video shown by the mayor shows Lisa Fithian, an infamous agitator at US protests for over half a century, showing protesters how to occupy a building.
The People's Forum, a tax-exempt advocacy group who often hosts propaganda events for the regimes of countries like Venezuela and Cuba, has been accused of being behind the Columbia protests.
People’s Forum executive director Manolo De Los Santos told the group to 'give Joe Biden a hot summer' and 'make it untenable for the politics of usual to take place in this country
Adams called Fithian 'the nation's best-known protest consultant', noting she gets paid as much as $300 a day to run demonstrations and teach how to take over streets during protests.
CNN has reported that at least half of demonstrators at Columbia are not affiliated with the
