On Sunday, the White House emphasized the importance of maintaining peaceful demonstrations amidst the wave of pro-Palestinian protests hitting US universities in recent weeks. This statement came after approximately 275 individuals were arrested across four different campuses during the weekend.
“We fully support the right to engage in peaceful protests,” stated John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, during an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” However, Kirby emphasized the administration’s unequivocal condemnation of recent instances of anti-Semitic rhetoric and emphasized their stance against all forms of hate speech and threats of violence.
The series of protests initially sparked at Columbia University in New York but swiftly proliferated nationwide. Despite many campuses maintaining peaceful demonstrations, the tally of detained protesters is rapidly escalating, with some encounters involving police clad in riot gear employing chemical irritants and tasers.
The detained protesters include 100 individuals at Northeastern University in Boston, 80 at Washington University in St. Louis, 72 at Arizona State University, and 23 at Indiana University.
One of those apprehended at Washington University was Jill Stein, the Green Party’s presidential candidate, who criticized the police for their aggressive tactics, which she claimed exacerbated rather than mitigated the situation.
Speaking to CNN just before her arrest on Saturday, Stein asserted, “This is about freedom of speech… on a very critical issue.” She accused law enforcement of escalating tensions by deploying riot police, effectively exacerbating the conflict.
According to Yale University’s independent student newspaper, protesters set up a new encampment on Sunday, following the dismantling of a previous site by law enforcement days earlier, resulting in numerous arrests and trespassing charges.
College administrators are grappling with the challenge of striking a balance between respecting free speech rights and addressing the proliferation of inflammatory and occasionally violently anti-Semitic rhetoric among protesters.
As final exams approach in the coming weeks, several campuses, including the Humboldt campus of California State Polytechnic University, have opted to close and transition to online classes.
The individuals driving the campus protests, a mix of students and non-students, are advocating for a cessation of hostilities in Israel’s conflict with Hamas and are urging colleges to sever their connections with Israel.
On October 7, Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, resulting in approximately 1,170 fatalities, based on Israeli official figures. Palestinian militants also seized around 250 individuals as hostages. Israel reports that 129 hostages remain in Gaza, with the military indicating that 34 of them are deceased.
In response, Israel initiated a retaliatory offensive that has led to the deaths of at least 34,454 people in Gaza, predominantly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry, which is controlled by Hamas.