Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday defended the level of NYPD response this week when officers disbanded several pro-Palestinian encampments on college campuses across New York City.

Officials at Columbia University, City College of New York and Fordham University all requested police assistance after making the decision to remove protesters from their campuses.

"You have a right to protest — the right. You don't have a right to inflict violence on others," Adams said during an appearance on “Mornings On 1” Thursday. "And I think it's immoral to call for the destruction of another group in this city."

Nearly 300 people were arrested at Columbia and City College on Tuesday night, with additional arrests at Fordham University on Wednesday night.

While some critics argue that the NYPD's actions infringed upon the protesters' First Amendment rights, Adams emphasized the importance of maintaining order.

"It is about sending a clear message that we are not going to allow disruptive and disorderly behavior," Adams said. "Look at what's happened across the country. On the same day that the officers went to Columbia University, they had to respond to CUNY, where individuals are throwing bottles, other objects, garbage containers at police officers."

Authorities have said that “outside agitators” infiltrated some of these groups. When asked by Pat Kiernan for a specific percentage of protesters that were not students, Adams did not give one, saying he didn’t “think that matters.”

“Just use the analogy of a classroom. If you have one professor giving inappropriate information to three to 50 college students, that’s a problem. That’s an impact,” Adams said.

"We know for sure that there were individuals — based on videos, observers, based on actions, based on the history — that were instructing students and others on how to do inappropriate action, and in some cases, illegal actions on a college campus.”

In a subsequent interview with NPR, Adams said his team had just given him a "preliminary review of the numbers."

"This is just a beginning process of analyzing, but it appears as though that over 40% of those who participated in Columbia and CUNY were not from the school, and that they were outsiders," Adams said.

NY1 has not yet been able to independently confirm that figure.

The mayor said it was up to schools to release the names of students and non-students who were arrested. He added that he felt the names of students should not be released.

Adams said police and the city would continue to prevent outside influences from what he said was hijacking the right to protest on college campuses.