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Students protest where they camp outside the entrance to Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University, in New York, U.S., April 30, 2024.
Police moved in to end disruptive Gaza protest encampments at universities across the US this week as President Joe Biden pushed for a cease-fire in the war that sparked the demonstrations.
The NYPD cleared Columbia’s Hamilton Hall in a dramatic operation late Tuesday. In California, police moved onto the UCLA campus after counter-protesters stormed a pro-Palestinian encampment. Similar police actions were taking place at universities across the US as university presidents called in police to deal with protests that have been spreading as student opposition to the war hardens.
Canada has also seen campus demonstrations, and the president of McGill in Montreal has called for police help, but the encampments have not yet been cleared.
Police action in the United States, meanwhile, has divided Democrats. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and other progressives condemned the raids as Biden's team walked a fine line, speaking against the more extreme protests and condemning incidents of antisemitism.
The split is a worrying division for Dems as they prepare for November’s election when they need Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives to help get out the youth vote. The big question is whether Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken can succeed in pushing for a cease-fire, which might help lower the political heat at home.
Biden also knows Republicans are ready to use the disorder on college campuses to their advantage. “Republicans are gleefully positioning themselves to be the 'law and order' party this November,” says Eurasia Group’s US Managing Director Jon Lieber, who expects the right to paint Dems as the "party of chaos" if campus chaos resurges in the fall.
In response, Biden has condemned the protests that have gone too far saying, “dissent must never lead to disorder.”