Biden tells US Gaza protesters they have ‘no right to cause chaos’

Biden tells US Gaza protesters they have ‘no right to cause chaos’

you don’t scare us you don’t scare us we’re not a crowd of more than a thousand protesters had gathered linking arms to try and stop police from breaking through into the pro Palestinian encampment at the University of California in Los Angeles the standoff continued for hours then Riot police finally descended taking on the crow crows blocking the entrance and finally reaching the outer perimeter of the camp where they set off flashbangs to stun the protesters as they began to tear down the barricades and storm the encampment these scenes are the latest in a chaotic week of protests Across America as students demand their universities sever their financial ties to Israel and support an immediate ceasefire amid the mounting death toll in Gaza the protests have been largely peaceful with these scenes in La once the police entered the camp and tore down the tents among the most violent morning disturbing enough that it finally prompted President Biden who’ so far not commented on the protests to finally emerge with a message that only peaceful not violent protest was acceptable it’s against the law 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 the student protesters many of them Jewish have insisted their anger is directed at the state of Israel but the protests including some violent threats and chants have been widely condemned d demned as anti-semitic allegations that Joe Biden appeared to accept today as he tries to tread the fine line between supporting Jewish Americans and not alienating young voters so crucial to his reelection there should be no place in any campus for anti-Semitism or threats of violence against Jewish students it’s simply wrong there’s no place for racism in America but even as he publicly supports Israel Biden is Accused by Republicans of doing nothing to quell the unrest several hard-right members of Congress toured an encampment just blocks from the White House yesterday at George Washington University attempting to capitalize on the moment for political gain say what’s your message why are you here these protesters here say that they’re protesting in peace student walking through this to class that the Jewish would feel safe so what do you want do you want this encampment shut down yeah the encampment needs to be removed they’re trespassing but the protests here so far have been peaceful even as these Republicans try and claim the opposite it is Hamas as they squarely blamed Hamas for what’s happening now in Gaza Congressman what about the protesters who say this Israel’s response has been over the top more than 30,000 innocent gazans the 30,000 number comes from Hamas and you know that don’t use that number that’s number one number two but thousands have been killed you’re not denying that listen War has that response been over the top war is a very cruel thing nobody wants [Music] War the politicians were eventually booed out of the encampment what did you make of that this all fits very well into a very convenient culture War narrative for them which is not productive or useful and really it’s going to play well on their right-wing Television services but isn’t good for anything else really they’re not serious legislators they’re grandstanders who are totally unproductive the Republicans say they’ll Force DC’s mayor to testify in Congress and use special powers if they have to to get police to shut the encampment down and are you ready for the police to move in and sweep you all up we’re ready for anything and you’re staying till such time as that happens we’re going to stay free Palestine free Palestine those who did precisely that dug in at the University of California in La were all removed as the sun rose this morning rounded up and arrested like hundreds of others Across America from New York to Wisconsin from Georgia to Texas as this movement gathers steam but the police and University officials are now seemingly determined to shut the encampments down even as the war which sparked these protests very much continues and Shon joins us now from Capitol Hill Shon well there Matt were about 200 arrested total in a la last night B the total number of students arrested in the past couple of weeks to nearly 2,000 uh while still dozens of these encampments remain but it does seemed to be the uh violence in La last night the use of flashbangs and rubber bullets by the police that forced these impromptu comments from Joe Biden and his condemnation of violence and anti-Semitism that he says and I quote have no place on any campus no place in America but again there was notably no condemnation either of Israel he was asked at one point whether he thought the protest had changed his view of the conflict in Gaza and he said no that it hadn’t but he was also asked whether or not he supported deploying the National Guard to shut down these encampments uh but he said no to that as well again trying to play Both Sides here of course that will be seized upon by the Republicans as Joe Biden being too weak on the protest Donald Trump of course nothing like the same he was very keen to capitalize on this on the way into court in New York this morning praising what he called thec in credible work of the LAPD in clearing out what he referred to as the radical left encampment I think we can expect much more of that uh that these protests uh these encampments and this growing political R will certainly not be dying down matt anytime soon you B War Kennedy in Washington thanks as ever well earli I spoke to the Republican poer Frank Lanson started by asking him why it taken Joe Biden until today to speak out about the protest I don’t know why and this is significant and I want to bring you back to 1968 because the campus Wars in 68 cost the Democrats the White House the mess in Chicago at the National Convention the protests at every Democratic stop prevented them from benefiting from support among young voters and it had a consequential impact right now I’m not sure anyone remembers that in today’s Democratic party but this is significant if Joe Biden doesn’t enter the election with a strong showing from first and second time voters it’ll be hard for him to defeat Donald Trump and so right now the White House is very very scared but he’s between a rock and a hard place isn’t he if he if he’s on the side of the protesters then the Law and Order crowd will say you know you’re too soft on these people if he’s done what he did today which is to crack down on the protest as he’s with the police then of course young people would say you know you misunderstand us we’re not going to vote for you exactly and it’s but it’s not just about the protess it is about the Israeli Hamas battle what’s going on in Gaza it’s not just young people on college campuses that are engaged in this but in the end what the public is seeing on their television sets in America is frightening them and we haven’t seen anything like this in more than 40 years so which of the Swing states that are most vulnerable for Biden on this issue oh that’s a good question uh you have to go to university towns and so probably number one is Wisconsin North Carolina and Michigan Right Michigan Arab Americans and students in Michigan as well you’re correct but these people these people are not going to vote for Trump are they so is the danger here that they either won’t vote at all or they might vote for you know Cornell West or one of the other Splinter candidates and this is one of the reasons why Robert Kennedy Jr is benefiting from this the more unstable the political environment the more unstable what’s happening at college campuses the better a third party candidate does so how important is it that Joe Biden gets this whole issue of the Gaza War behind him well before the November elections because at the moment it just seems to be open-ended there are some things that a president can do to influence history they can be involved in the economy they can they can Tiner at the edges when it comes to foreign policy sometimes things happen that just undermine them Jimmy Carter is the best example in 1980 Carter was going into the election with a lead but because of what happened in Iran he was shown to be weak shown to be ineffective and in the end it probably cost him the election and Joe Biden’s looking at that as well the historic precedents for these situations are really dangerous for the Democrats because they suggest having real trouble in November what is the more problematic issue here the court for Donald Trump or the situation in Gaza for Joe Biden in the end that’s a great question and the only way to answer it is by the impact at the end at this point people care more about what’s happening in college campuses and what’s happening in Gaza but if Donald Trump’s trial ends badly for him he’s going to be the one who gets hurt the most and yet all this instability all these insurrections that are happening across the country that’s not good news for Joe Biden it’s another reason why Americans are in such a funk why they’re so pessimistic about the future and frankly why they’re so angry with each other and just finally briefly looking at the most recent polls and I know that we’re months away from the election but consistently these polls by a Slither do not look good for the president do they that is correct but I don’t look at the national numbers and if I can leave your viewers with one thing to remember the national polling numbers don’t matter it’s only these seven states and Donald Trump at this moment has a 3% lead in those seven states that suggests that he has a lead in the election Frank Lance always a pleasure thank you me too

For the last fortnight, America’s tented protest movement has spread from campus to campus, seemingly unabated by political condemnation. But the last forty-eight hours have seen hundreds of arrests, with the Los Angeles Police Department clearing an encampment at UCLA – hot on the heels of the mass arrests at Columbia University in New York.

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Stung by criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike for his lack of comment about the unrest, President Biden condemned the violence and vandalism, but defended the right to peaceful protest.

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