Biden: Violent protests ‘not protected’

President Biden on Thursday sharply criticized some aspects of the protests that have swept college campuses across the country in response to the war in Gaza, condemning the vandalism and invasion while defending the right to peacefully demonstrate.

“In moments like this there are always those who rush to score political points. But this is not a time for politics, it is a time for clarity. So let me be clear…violent protests are not protected. Peaceful protest is,” Biden said in prepared remarks at the White House.

He highlighted what occurred at Columbia University and other college campuses last week, which drew national attention as tensions rose and police broke up encampments.

“Destroying property is not a peaceful protest. It’s against the law. Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, closing campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations. None of this is a peaceful protest — threatening people, intimidating people,” Biden said.

“Dissent is essential to democracy, but dissent must never lead to disorder,” Biden added.

The president said he was not considering deploying the National Guard in response to the protests. And he said the protests on college campuses have not led him to rethink his Middle East policy.

Demonstrations have been taking place on university campuses across the country amid outrage over the war in Gaza, where tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed as Israel responded to Hamas attacks in October that left more than 1,100 Israelis dead.

Pro-Palestinian protesters opposing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza had taken control from Hamilton Hall on the Columbia campus on Monday, an escalation of protests that began about two weeks ago. New York police officers entered the building Tuesday night through a window, carrying riot shields and zip ties and arresting several protesters as they cleared the area.

A statement from a university spokesperson said officers arrived after the school requested assistance.

Los Angeles police also dispersed protesters on the UCLA campus Wednesday night.

“We all saw the images and they tested two fundamental American principles. The first is the right to freedom of expression, for people to come together peacefully and make their voices heard. Second is the rule of law. Both must be maintained. We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or suppress dissent,” Biden said Thursday.

He added: “We are a civil society and order must prevail.”

And he called out the anti-Semitism that has emerged in the protests on college campuses, which the White House has been calling out since the campus protests began.

“There should be no place on any campus, no place in America for anti-Semitism or threats of violence against Jewish students,” he said. “There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, be it anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans. It’s just wrong.”

“I understand that people have strong feelings and deep convictions. In America, we respect and protect their right to express this. But that doesn’t mean everything goes. It needs to be done without violence, without destruction, without hate and within the law,” she added.

Biden made only passing comments about the protests before Thursday, condemning anti-Semitism but also reacting to those “who don’t understand what’s happening to the Palestinians.”

Former President Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, called the protests a “disgrace” and criticized Biden on Wednesday for his lack of public comment on the scenes unfolding across the country.

“Biden was nowhere to be found. He didn’t say anything,” Trump said. “When you have a problem like this, you should go out and talk about it and talk to people. But there is a big problem, there is a big fever in our country and he is not talking about it. But if he did it wouldn’t matter.”

The situation is politically complicated for Biden, who is already facing adverse reactions from parts of his base for his handling of the war between Israel and Hamas. Thousands of voters voted in protest against Biden in the Democratic primary, and a CNN poll released over the weekend showed Biden trailing Trump among young voters.

The White House condemned the rhetoric used by the student leader of the Columbia protests, who said in January that “Zionists do not deserve to live.” And when protesters took over a building on the Columbia campus on Tuesday, the White House called the move a wrong approach and condemned the protesters for disrupting the academic experience of other students.

Updated at 11:42 a.m. ET