‘Order must prevail’ amid US protests over Gaza

President Joe Biden has said the United States is not authoritarian but “order must prevail” as students continue to protest at universities across the country over the war in Gaza.

In a televised address from the White House, President Biden added that there was “no place” for antisemitism on campuses.

The 81-year-old Democrat – whose re-election bid in November faces a challenge from voters opposed to the war – said there has to be a balance between the right to peaceful protest and the need to prevent violence.

“We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent,” President Biden said.

“But neither are we a lawless country,” he added. “We’re a civil society, and order must prevail.”

The president also said the demonstrations could not be allowed to disrupt classes and graduations for thousands of students.

He has faced criticism from all sides of the political spectrum over the protests, several of which have been broken up by police in recent days with dozens of people arrested.

Republicans have accused him of being soft on what they say is antisemitic sentiment among the protesters, while he faces widespread opposition in his own party for his strong support for Israel’s deadly military offensive.

“There should be no place on any campus, no place in America for antisemitism, or threats of violence against Jewish students,” President Biden added.

“There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans. It’s simply wrong.”

His comments came after Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said the campus protests were “contaminated by hatred and antisemitism.”

President Biden said “no” when asked if the US National Guard should intervene to break up the demonstrations or if the protests would change the US government’s strong support of the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Police move in to dismantle student protest camp in Los Angeles

Hundreds of helmeted police have entered a central plaza of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in a move to disperse a pro-Palestinian protest camp attacked the previous night by pro-Israel supporters.

In the pre-dawn crackdown, officers in tactical gear filed onto the campus adjacent to a complex of tents occupied by demonstrators, live footage from the scene showed.

Local television station KABC-TV estimated that 300 to 500 people were hunkered down inside the camp, while around 2,000 more had gathered outside the barricades in support.

However, the assembled police stood by on the periphery of the tents for hours before finally starting to force their way into the encampment at around 3.15am local time (11.15am Irish time) to arrest occupants who refused to leave.

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The raid was led by a number of California Highway Patrol officers carrying shields and batons.

Demonstrators, some carrying makeshift shields and umbrellas, sought to block the officers’ advance by their sheer numbers, while shouting, “push them back” and flashing bright lights in the eyes of the police.

Some protesters had been seen donning hard hats, goggles and respirator masks in anticipation of the siege a day after the university declared the encampment unlawful.

Hundreds of other pro-Palestinian activists who assembled outside the tent city jeered police with shouts of “shame on you”, some banging on drums and waving Palestinian flags, as officers marched onto the campus grounds. Many wore the traditional Palestinian scarves called keffiyehs.

A much smaller group of demonstrators waving Israeli flags urged on the police to shut down the encampment, yelling, “Hey hey, ho-ho, the occupation has got to go”.

Prior to moving in, police urged demonstrators in repeated loudspeaker announcements to clear the protest zone.

The sight of helmeted officers at one of the most prestigious US universities left some students dismayed.

“I don’t think we should have a heavy police force on campus,” UCLA student Mark Torre, 22, said as he surveyed the scene from behind metal barriers.

“But more and more, day by day, I think it’s a necessary evil, to at least keep safety on campus.”

Late on Tuesday counter-protesters had sprayed chemical substances onto the pro-Palestinian encampment and attempted to tear down wooden boards and metal barricades before police eventually arrived.

Demonstrators have gathered in at least 30 US universities since last month, often erecting tent encampments to protest the soaring death toll in Gaza.

Police tore down an encampment at the University of Texas yesterday, arresting more than a dozen people.

Officers also detained several people at Fordham University in New York and cleared an encampment set up inside a school building, officials said, and law enforcement were on standby at Columbia University across the city after mass arrests the previous evening.

At Massachusetts Institute of Technology, protesters dug in, blocking an avenue near the center of the campus in Cambridge during the height of yesterday’s rush hour commute.

The University of Texas Dallas saw police remove an encampment and arrest at least 17 people for “criminal trespass,” the school said.

At Columbia and at the City University of New York, where police cleared out demonstrators overnight into yesterday, some students decried the police behavior.

“We were assaulted, brutally arrested. And I was held for up to six hours before being released, pretty banged up, got stomped on, got cut up,” one CUNY student who gave his name only as Jose said.

A medical student offering treatment to detainees as they were released described a litany of injuries.

“We’ve seen things like severe head traumas, concussions, someone was knocked unconscious in the encampment by police, someone was thrown down the stairs,” said the student, who gave her name as Isabel.

About 300 arrests were made at Columbia and CUNY, Police Commissioner Edward Caban said.

Mayor Eric Adams blamed “outside agitators” for ratcheting up tensions. Columbia students have denied outsiders were involved.

The protests have posed a challenge to university administrators trying to balance free speech rights with complaints of criminal activity, antisemitism and hate speech.