Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday pointed to the country’s history of multi-day demonstrations and said the rights of people to participate in peaceful pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses should be protected. insisted.
Asked on “Fox News Sunday” about Republicans calling for the Biden administration to be more forceful in quelling protests, Murphy said, “We should all…speak out, right? When? [a] Protests cross the line when they turn violent or include hate speech. ”
“But 95 percent of the young people on these campuses are there because they believe there is fundamental injustice taking place in Israel, and we want to protect their right to peacefully protest. We must protect it,” he continued. “And, you know, we also have a history of overnight and multi-day protests in this country.”
Protests calling for a ceasefire in the Israeli-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel have continued for more than a week on a series of university campuses across the country. Some schools called in local and state police to quell the protests, and hundreds of students were arrested.
Many of the protests were reported to have been peaceful, but concerns have been raised about student safety and the prevalence of anti-Semitic rhetoric. Many protest groups reject the characterization of recent demonstrations as anti-Semitic.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with protecting peaceful protests from continuing beyond a few hours,” Murphy said. “Yes, there are points at which these protests interfere with the efficient operation of the campus. But I am not criminally offended by the fact that some of these protests last for several days. Not.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) last week visited Columbia University, the first school to start large-scale protests, and urged President Biden to stop the demonstrations, calling them “dangerous.” He suggested calling in the National Guard.
“Fox News Sunday” anchor Shannon Bream asked Murphy whether he thought the use of law enforcement would change in cases of threats against students.
“Some of these campus protests involve legitimate threats against students on campus. And in those cases, campus police and local police can and will respond to those threats. I think we should,” Murphy said.
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