On May 2, President Biden delivered his first direct address on the nation’s massive student movement for Palestine—accusing student protesters of violence and racism.
“Peaceful protest in America — violent protest is not protected; peaceful protest is. It’s against the law when violence occurs… Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest,” Biden said. “There should be no place on any campus, no place in America for antisemitism or threats of violence against Jewish students. There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans.”
Biden made a point to highlight that the US is “not an authoritarian nation,” however. “The American people are heard.”
After Biden’s brief remarks, a journalist asked him if “the protests forced you to reconsider any of the policies with regard to the region,” to which he responded with a definitive “no.”
On this same day, Los Angeles police conducted one of the most brutal raids to date on the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at the University of California – Los Angeles. On the night of May 1, students and community put up a bold fight against the onslaught of LAPD coming onto campus to raid the encampment, temporarily forcing officers to retreat. Protesters locked arms with one another, chanting, “We’re not leaving!” and “You don’t scare us!”
However, into the pre-dawn hours of Thursday morning, LAPD armed with riot gear swept into the camp, deploying rubber bullets and flashbang grenades. UCLA student organizers reported that at least five people were shot in the head with rubber bullets, landing students in the hospital with serious injuries. 132 arrests were made and LAPD demolished the encampment.
Over 2,000 people have been arrested nationwide in connection with the student movement for Palestine. The total repression of the student protesters at UCLA comes only a day after the New York Police Department’s brutality in demolishing the Columbia Gaza Solidarity Encampment and occupation of Hind Hall (renamed by organizers from Hamilton Hall). A veritable army of hundreds of police, part of the Strategic Response Group unit, were brought in by the city and Columbia President Minoushe Shafik, and breached the hall, deploying flashbang grenades and brutalizing demonstrators both inside and outside the building. On the very same night, NYPD conducted a similar raid on the City College of New York Gaza Solidarity Encampment, only a few blocks north of Columbia’s campus—with both raids resulting in a combined 282 arrests.
At Dartmouth College, over 100 arrests were made last night after police swept a Gaza Solidarity Encampment staged by students. One of the arrests was Annelise Orleck, the head of the Jewish Studies Department at Dartmouth, who is now banned from campus for six months in a punitive measure resulting from her arrest.
This is Annelise Orleck who is the head of the Jewish Studies program at Dartmouth and 65 years old. https://t.co/es9lCon5tK
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) May 2, 2024
In Texas, after students at the University of Texas – Austin have endured wave after wave of repression from local police as well as Texas State Troopers, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a warning to Palestine solidarity protesters on April 29. “No encampments will be allowed,” he wrote on X. “Instead, arrests are being made.” Abbott has been a fierce advocate for free speech on Texas campuses when it comes to right-wing speech, but has brutally cracked down multiple times against pro-Palestine protesters at UT Austin.
