US college Gaza protests: Biden’s call for ‘order’ falling on deaf ears? • FRANCE 24 English

US college Gaza protests: Biden’s call for ‘order’ falling on deaf ears? • FRANCE 24 English

and a similar story in the US in recent weeks police have arrested nearly 2,200 people during the pro Palestinian protest at college campuses across the country at times the encounters have turned violent police Sometimes using riot gear pepper spray flash banging devices even armored vehicles to try and clear out student encampments on public and private universities most demonstrators are calling for their schools to divest from Israel University officials have varied in the response from taking successful efforts to deescalate tensions to calling in the police to storm the buildings on Thursday President Joe Biden insisted that order must Prevail take a listen it’s against the law when violence occurs destroying property is not a peaceful protest it’s against the law vandalism trespassing breaking Windows shutting down campuses forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations none of this is a peaceful protest threatening people intimidating people instilling people is not peaceful protest it’s against the law descent is essential to democracy but descent must never lead to disorder or to denying the rights of others so students can finish the semester and their college education joining me on the set is our International Affairs commentator Douglas Herbert hello to you Doug I will President Biden speaking perhaps to those protesters but I’m guessing they’re not going to be listening yeah a lot of that message uh For Better or For Worse will is falling on death years uh among the protesters they were very brief remarks uh he was under enor enormous pressure to say anything at all he didn’t really take reporters questions afterwards it is really will be seen as uh the absolute bare minimum that he uh that he was asked to do uh to comment on what’s going on he couldn’t just stand there and ignore it the problem is is look these protests as you know have underscored the extremely deep divisions the Deep polarizations he was a very common word now in in in US politics and elsewhere uh the polarization when it comes to US longstanding policy towards Israel and notably uh this policy of practically unconditional support sure there have been nuances there sure Joe Biden has ramped up the pressure on Netanyahu and call after call to make it clear he wants the aid to come through uh that they need to change their approach uh in Gaza that they need to take all measures to protect civilians before any sort of ground Invasion would be even vaguely feasible um in Rafa in the Southernmost city but like I said for the Youth protesting they simply do not understand what is it about the US and the Israeli relationship they don’t understand the reasons behind this unconditional support maybe an older generation has a better historical perspective maybe they do understand why the US especially an older President Biden being 81 years old he grew up he he was born before the the creation of Israel in 1948 he has a very sort of personal lifelong affinity for Israel and an understanding perhaps of of its history the younger generation has seen the horrible suffering in Gaza the results of this catastrophic war on both a humanitarian level the loss of human life um and they simply do not understand why the US Administration has not come down harder um from their perspective other obviously other people will see it very differently and say that uh that uh that he has been very much cognizant of their demands and what they’ve been doing um but like you said falling on De ears and this does um ring an alarm sort of you know uh sounds an alarm on the election coming up because he desperately needs those voters he can’t afford to lose that demographic the younger 18 to 29 year olds and classes are wrapping up at many of these universties do you think the protests will also be wrapping up or are they going to spread the White House certainly hopes so right you’re right uh Columbia University where all these protests began uh you know back in in April they right now will I think the last classes are May 4th tomorrow and the the commencement the graduation is on May 15 so in less than two weeks time so the Hope in the White House um and and and other spheres in Washington uh is that they will sort of fizzle out you know the students will go away on summer holiday and when it’s they will not ramp up again in the fall or at least we’ll be in a very different place uh come Autumn uh but the fact of the matter is there’s a long time still for things to percolate and we’ve only seen as as I’ve said these the continuing to gain momentum police are continuing to break up protest sites uh Mo another Ivy League school even joining the frey Dartmouth but its tents were taken down even before they had a chance to really set them up so the the response is getting tougher but there is no sign that these protests are simply going to go away today or tomorrow the problem for Biden is I’ll just note this for for our viewers the Coalition that brought him to power in 2020 18 to 29y Old voters voted for him by a 24o margin fast forward to today a recent NBC News poll shows Trump uh I’m sorry Biden leading Trump by one point 43% to 42% in that exact same age demographic 18 to 29 those are simply poll numbers take them for what they’re worth will but a lot of White House officials I can guarantee you are scrutinizing those polls and yes they are Running Scared from them and they know they have to do something to change opinion and they have to do it pretty quickly among that younger demographic

US President Joe Biden insisted Thursday that “order must prevail” on college campuses after weeks of turmoil, clashes with police and mass arrests involving student protests against Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. But will the president’s comments do anything to help calm the situation? France 24’s Doug Herbert takes a look.
#Gaza #US #UCLA

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