Police have arrested not less than 2,000 people following the ongoing pro-Palestinian protests across dozens of US college and university campuses in earlier this weeks.
According to an Associated Press (AP) count, more than 300 pro-Palestinian protestors were apprehended on college campuses on Wednesday night into Thursday morning, bringing the total to over 2,000.
At the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), about 200 students were also picked up as law enforcement dismantled a fortified encampment, with more than 90 students arrested at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
While dozens more were arrested at the University of New Hampshire and the University of Buffalo, reports also indicated that in Oregon, police moved into the school’s library on Thursday, which has been occupied by demonstrators since Monday, April 29, 2024.
“We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent”, the US President Joe Biden was quoted as saying, adding; “But order must prevail. Violent protest is not protected – peaceful protest is”.
President Biden, who criticized what he called “violent” protests, further said in a brief statement on Thursday morning that; “Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations – none of this is a peaceful protest”.
“There’s the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos,” the US president said. In response to a reporter’s question, he said he did not think it was the right time to call the National Guard.
Meanwhile, in a Thursday report, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project said that although some clashes have broken out, “the overwhelming majority [of protests] – 99% – have remained peaceful”.
The protests are part of a movement to force schools to divest from businesses that support the war in Gaza, and they reflect how the war has become a major flashpoint in US politics.
According to figures supplied by the Gaza Health Ministry, over 34,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel starts it’s campaign to destroy Hamas, with more people being thrust into near hunger because Israel has not provide enough food aid to the area.
Following the attack on October 7, 2023, in which Hamas killed over 1,200 people and kidnapped over 250 Israelis, the US has given Israel significant military backing, most recently in the form of a $15 billion aid package since the start of the battle against Hamas.
