Pro-Palestinian protests that are escalating and causing chaos in American universities expanded to more institutions on Wednesday. This prompted a prominent Republican figure to propose deploying the National Guard.
House Speaker Mike Johnson's remarks are sure to bring up emotions in a nation where the 1970 death of unarmed students protesting the Vietnam War by National Guardsmen is still fresh in people's memories.
On Wednesday, there were protests at the University of Southern California and in Texas, where there was a heated confrontation between students and riot police that resulted in the detention of over 20 people.
Enraged by the growing number of casualties in Israel's battle against Hamas, the students and law enforcement clashed once more.
The campaign started at Columbia University in New York, when police were called in to disperse an occupation that Jewish students claimed was threatening and anti-Semitic, leading to dozens of arrests last week.
Johnson told reporters at Columbia that "an appropriate time for the National Guard" would come if the protests were not quickly contained.
He declared that he would "take action" against US President Joe Biden and issued a warning that the protests "place a target on the backs of Jewish students in the United States."
Biden supported free speech, according to White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre.
She told reporters that “The president believes that free speech, debate and nondiscrimination on college campuses are important.”
Israel, an ally of the United States, began its attack in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas assault, which claimed the lives of almost 1,170 Israelis according to an AFP count of Israeli government numbers.
Protesters stated that they are calling on Columbia and other institutions to withdraw from companies with links to Israel and that they are showing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where the death toll has exceeded 34,200, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
