The head of state had until now remained silent on the subject. While defending “freedom of expression”, he recalled that anti-Semitism “had no place on campus”.
:quality(50)/2023/07/06/64a68815cd1a7_placeholder-36b69ec8.png)
Published
Reading time: 1 min
:quality(50)/2024/05/02/000-34qr2tu-6633b0934475a912653296.jpg)
His speech comes in the midst of a wave of demonstrations in American universities, in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. US President Joe Biden said that “order must prevail”Thursday May 2, during a short speech, while affirming that he defended the “freedom of expression”. “We are not a nation that silences people” declared the head of state, adding that “anti-Semitism had no place” on campus.
The 81-year-old Democrat, so far silent on the subject, is under pressure to speak out about the pro-Palestinian mobilization in American universities. The police have already intervened on several occasions to dislodge the protesters. Before Joe Biden spoke,The police had militarily dismantled an encampment erected at the University of California in Los Angeles by students protesting against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, and arrested dozens of them.
At the University of Texas at Dallas, police cleared a protest camp on Wednesday and, according to the institution, arrested at least 17 people for “criminal trespass.” Law enforcement officers apprehended several people at Fordham University in New York the same day and dismantled an encampment, according to officials. Also on Wednesday, around 300 people were arrested in New York at two university sites, according to police.
