WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday defended the right to protest but insisted that “order must prevail” as college campuses across the country face unrest over the war in Gaza.
“Dissent is essential for democracy," he said at the White House. "But dissent must never lead to disorder.”
Tensions have been building for days as demonstrators refuse to remove campus encampments and administrators turn to police to clear them by force, leading to clashes that have seized attention from politicians and the media.
Biden said he did not support calls to send in the National Guard. He also said that the protests have not prompted him to reconsider his approach to the war. The Democratic president has occasionally criticized Israel's conduct but continued to supply it with weapons.
His remarks, occurring shortly before he left the White House for a trip to North Carolina, came after days of silence about the protests.
Biden's last previous public comment on the protests came more than a week ago, when he condemned “antisemitic protests” and “those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.”
Recently at a protest in New York City, police officers removed a Palestinian flag that had been raised at City College after an American flag was taken down:
At least 200 people were arrested at UCLA Thursday, bringing the nationwide total of arrests to more than 2,000 at dozens of college campuses since police cleared an encampment at Columbia University in mid-April, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
Demonstrations — and arrests — have occurred in almost every corner of the nation. But in the last 24 hours, they’ve drawn the most attention at the University of California, Los Angeles, where chaotic scenes played out early Thursday as officers in riot gear surged against a crowd of demonstrators.
Police removed barricades and began dismantling demonstrators’ fortified encampment at UCLA after hundreds of protesters defied orders to leave, some forming human chains as police fired flash-bangs to break up the crowds.
At least 200 people were arrested at UCLA, said Sgt. Alejandro Rubio of the California Highway Patrol, citing data from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Rubio said the arrestees were being booked at the county jails complex near downtown Los Angeles. UCLA police will determine what if any charges to seek.
Workers entered the former encampment site Thursday morning and began an extensive cleanup. Bulldozers scooped up bags of trash and dismantled tents. Some buildings were covered in graffiti.
The arrests came after officers spent hours threatening arrests over loudspeakers if people did not disperse. A crowd of more than 1,000 had gathered on campus, including inside a barricaded tent encampment. Protesters and police shoved and scuffled as officers encountered resistance. Video showed police pulling off protesters' helmets and goggles as they were detained.
With police helicopters hovering, the sound of flash-bangs — which produce a bright light and a loud noise to disorient and stun — pierced the air. Protesters chanted at the officers, “Where were you last night?” Late Tuesday, counterprotesters attack the encampment and the UCLA administration and campus police took hours to respond.
The White House, which has been peppered with questions by reporters, had gone only slightly further than the president. On Wednesday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden is “monitoring the situation closely," and she said some demonstrations had stepped over a line that separated free speech from unlawful behavior.
“Forcibly taking over a building," such as what happened at Columbia University in New York, "is not peaceful," she said. "It’s just not.”
Despite the White House's criticism and Biden's refusal to heed protesters' demands to cut off U.S. support for Israel, Republicans blame Democrats for the disorder and have used it as a backdrop for press conferences.
“We need the president of the United States to speak to the issue and say this is wrong," House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said on Tuesday. "What’s happening on college campuses right now is wrong.”
Johnson visited Columbia with other members of his caucus last week. House Republicans sparred with protesters while speaking to the media at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
Also recently, students in North Carolina re-raised and protected an American flag on campus:
Former President Donald Trump, his party's presumptive nominee, also criticized Biden in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News.
“Biden has to do something,” he said. “Biden is supposed to be the voice of our country, and it’s certainly not much of a voice. It’s a voice that nobody’s heard.”
He repeated his criticisms on Wednesday during a campaign event in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
“The radical extremists and far-left agitators are terrorizing college campuses, as you possibly noticed," Trump said. “And Biden’s nowhere to be found. He hasn’t said anything."
Apart from condemning antisemitism, the White House has been reluctant to directly engage on the issue.
Jean-Pierre repeatedly deflected questions during a briefing on Monday.
Asked whether protesters should be disciplined by their schools, she said “universities and colleges make their own decisions” and "we’re not going to weigh in from here.”
Pressed on whether police should be called in, she said “that's up to the colleges and universities.”
When quizzed about administrators rescheduling graduation ceremonies, she said “that is a decision that they have to decide" and “that is on them.”
Biden will make his own visit to a college campus on May 19 when he's scheduled to deliver the commencement address at Morehouse University in Atlanta.
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Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami and AP writer Colleen Long and White House Correspondent Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.