Spiralling pro-Palestinian protests which might be rocking universities throughout the USA have unfold to extra campuses, triggering ideas from a senior Republican chief that the Nationwide Guard might be introduced in.
The feedback from Home Speaker Mike Johnson are prone to evoke robust feelings in a rustic the place the 1970 killing by Nationwide Guardsmen of unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam Struggle lives on in people reminiscence.
Demonstrations erupted on Wednesday on the College of Southern California and in Texas, the place a tense standoff developed between college students and police in riot gear, with greater than 20 folks detained.
It was the newest confrontation between legislation enforcement and college students protesting towards Israel’s warfare on Gaza.
The motion started at Columbia College in New York Metropolis, the place dozens of arrests had been made final week after college authorities known as in police to quell an occupation.
Johnson informed reporters at Columbia that if the demonstrations weren’t contained shortly, it could be “an acceptable time for the Nationwide Guard”.
He stated he supposed to demand that US President Joe Biden “take motion”, and warned that the demonstrations “place a goal on the backs of Jewish college students in the USA”.
White Home spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre stated Biden backed free speech.
“The president believes that free speech, debate and nondiscrimination on faculty campuses are vital,” she informed reporters.
Pupil protesters say they’re expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the place the loss of life toll has topped 34,300, in keeping with the Palestinian Well being Ministry.
Demonstrators are calling on Columbia and different universities to divest from corporations with ties to Israel.
The protesters – together with plenty of Jewish college students – have disavowed cases of anti-Semitism on the demonstrations.
Professional-Israel supporters have pointed to anti-Semitic incidents and argued that campuses are encouraging intimidation and hate speech.