Biden Defends Rights Of Student Protesters, But Says Violent Protest Is Not Protected: “Order Must Prevail”

Axios reports:

President Biden defended students’ right to protest peacefully during a speech Thursday, but condemned the “chaos” that has broken out on campuses nationwide amid protests against the Israel-Hamas war. When asked by a reporter, the president said he is not reconsidering U.S. policy. “There’s the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos,” Biden said from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, adding that “order must prevail.”

“Let me be clear, violent protest is not protected. Peaceful protest is. It’s against the law when violence occurs, destroying property is not a peaceful protest. It’s against the law,” Biden said. “Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduation, none of this is a peaceful protest,” he said. Biden said that he does not think the National Guard should intervene.

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