NEW YORK — More than 45% of the pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at Columbia University and City College this week were “unaffiliated” with the schools, NYPD sources told the Daily News on Thursday, though it’s unclear how many of the demonstrators were so-called “outside agitators” involved in driving the recent tumult on the campuses.

The issue of whether“outside agitators” were behind the encampment protests at Columbia, City College and other schools has become a focus of intense debate. Mayor Eric Adams, NYPD officials and college leaders have repeatedly said outsiders were influencing student behavior, while student protest leaders deny that’s the case.

NYPD sources told The Daily News that 134 of the 282 people arrested were not “affiliated” with the schools. Arrest data obtained by shows that about a third of those arrested were 30 or older, though it was not clear from those statistics how many of them were or weren’t “affiliated” with Columbia and City College.

The new info comes two days after police in riot gear stormed the Manhattan campuses of Columbia University and City College, arresting scores of pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had set up encampments and occupied a Columbia academic building to protest Israel’s war against Hamas.

Adams, who has repeatedly insisted the protests were heavily influenced by “professional” and “external” activists, said in an NPR interview Thursday about 40% of those arrested were “outsiders,” based on a preliminary review.

He went on to say an NYPD Intelligence Division’s inquiry into the “ outside agitators” was based on his own “gut reaction” to what he perceived was going on at the protests.

“They came back, substantiated on the Columbia grounds and other grounds that there were those that were professionals who participated in training, participated in some of the activities,” he said.

Neither Adams nor other officials have yet released names of those arrested who were unaffiliated with the universities and suspected of leading the campus unrest. They have also declined to say how many of those arrested fit into the “outside agitator” category.

The NYPD sources said the 148 “affiliated” people arrested in Tuesday night’s raids are students or faculty. The sources did not elaborate on who makes up the “unaffiliated” category. It’s also unclear whether the “unaffiliated” arrestees were actively involved in leading the protests or simply on or around the campuses as mass arrests took place Tuesday night.

“What was given to me by my team was a preliminary review of the numbers. This is just a beginning process of analyzing, but it appears as though over 40% of those who participated in Columbia and CUNY were not from the school and they were outsiders,” Adams said.

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