Joe Biden says ‘order must prevail’ as Gaza war protests roil US campuses
- US president warns against violence in student protests over the Israel-Gaza war
- Police have arrested nearly 2,200 people at dozens of US colleges or universities
US President Joe Biden insisted that “order must prevail” on college campuses after weeks of turmoil, clashes with police and mass arrests involving student protests against Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
For weeks, authorities on campuses from New York to California have tried to thread the needle between the right to protest and complaints of violence and hate speech, resulting in nearly 2,200 arrests in two weeks as university terms end.
“We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent,” Biden, who has faced criticism from all sides of the political spectrum over the demonstrations, said in a televised statement from the White House.
“But neither are we a lawless country. We’re a civil society, and order must prevail,” he added.