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President Joe Biden condemned the violence associated with pro-Palestinian demonstrations on elite campuses across the country, saying peaceful protests are protected speech but illegal acts will not be tolerated.
In his first public appearance since police raided university encampments set up by protesters from New York to Los Angeles, Biden warned protesters that “disruptive behavior” should not be tolerated. , expressed support for law enforcement efforts to restore order.
“We are a civil society and order must prevail,” Biden said at the White House. “Violent protests are not protected. They are peaceful protests. When violence occurs, it is a violation of the law. Destruction of property is not a peaceful protest, it is a violation of the law.”
Scenes of chaos on American campuses highlighted how the Middle East war is dividing Democratic voters in an election year. “This could be Biden's Vietnam,” Bernie Sanders, a progressive senator from Vermont, told CNN on Thursday.
Biden's remarks came as the University of California, Los Angeles, became the latest campus to confirm police action to break up a student camp. UCLA became the scene of violent clashes Tuesday night when pro-Israel counter-demonstrators tried to clear the camp.
Early Thursday morning, Los Angeles police officers in riot gear removed tents and obstacles and detained protesters with zip ties around their wrists following unrest that prompted the university to cancel classes. I was taken away. Local media said officers used “flash bang” devices to disorient people in the crowd.
The police raid at UCLA followed similar moves at Columbia University in New York, the University of Texas in Austin, the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 universities across the U.S. since April 18, according to an Associated Press tally.
Biden has been criticized by Republicans in Congress for not speaking out more about the protests, which forced some universities to cancel graduation ceremonies and move classes online.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump praised the actions of Los Angeles and New York police at UCLA and Columbia, blaming the “radical left” for the ongoing unrest on campus.
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“This is a movement from the left, not the right. Rights are not your problem,” President Trump said. “They are far-left lunatics. And they must be stopped.”
At the same time, many Democrats and academics have expressed alarm at the police's coercive tactics. Most on-campus protests were peaceful, although some violated campus rules regarding camping on university property.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams blamed “outside agitators” for the unrest. On Thursday, Columbia University announced that 13 of the 44 people arrested at Hamilton Hall, the campus building that sparked a police raid by protesters, were not affiliated with the university. Two were employees of Columbia University, and the rest were undergraduate or graduate students.
Separately, Columbia University faculty members denounced the university's leadership's decision to call the police without consulting the Senate and called for a vote of no confidence in the university's president, Minoush Shafik.
Columbia University's chapter of the American Association of University Professors said the recent decision “irreparably damaged our confidence” in the administration and was “the culmination of a shocking failure of decision-making and judgment over the past seven months.” He said that.
In a brief response to questions from reporters, Biden said he would not advocate deploying the National Guard to quell demonstrations. National Guard units are controlled by state governors but could be nationalized in a crisis. Additionally, Biden said his protests did not cause him to reconsider his own policy on the Israel-Hamas war.
However, the president made clear that he believes the protests have gone too far, preventing students from attending classes and causing destruction on some campuses.
“Vandalism, trespassing, broken windows, campus closures, forced cancellations of classes and graduations – none of this is peaceful protest,” Biden said. “Dissent is essential to democracy, but dissent must never cause disruption or deny the rights of others so that students can complete their college education through the semester. It won't happen.''
Student groups across the country have often demanded that universities divest funding from Israeli-affiliated companies, but demonstrations have also sparked anti-Semitic incidents.
Rutgers University in New Jersey postponed exams scheduled for Thursday morning “in anticipation of increased protests and out of an abundance of caution for the safety of our students.”
The clash at UCLA came after two weeks of controversy at the nearby University of Southern California. Administrators at the university canceled a commencement speech by valedictorian Asna Tabassum, a Muslim woman, due to safety concerns.