Biden defends right to protest but says ‘order must prevail’ amid college unrest

Joe Biden on Thursday defended the right to protest but insisted that “order must prevail” as college campuses across the US continued to face unrest amid pro-Palestine demonstrations against the war in Gaza and universities’ investments in companies that support Israel’s government.

The US president has stayed mostly quiet about the current phase of intensified protests at dozens of colleges coast to coast, from the Ivy League to small public institutions in the last two weeks, which has prompted the use of outside police on some campuses in controversial crackdowns.

“Dissent is essential for democracy,” Biden said at the White House. “But dissent must never lead to disorder.”

Biden said he did not support calls to send in national guard troops, which prominent Republican lawmakers have demanded he do.

He also said that the protests had not prompted him to reconsider his approach to the Israeli military offensive in Gaza aimed that followed the attack led by Hamas on southern Israel last 7 October but, since, has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of them civilians. The Democratic president has occasionally criticized Israel’s conduct but continued to supply it with weapons.

Biden admonished protesters using what he termed “violent” methods, which included a broad sweep.

“Violent protests are not protected. Peaceful protest is,” he said, adding: “There’s the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos.”

And he said: “Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campus, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduation … none of this is a peaceful protest.”

He added, however, that the right to free speech must be protected in the US.

“We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence