Biden speaks about campus protests before leaving for North Carolina

President Biden is speaking Thursday in previously unscheduled remarks on college campuses before leaving for events in North Carolina. 

The president’s remarks come as pro-Palestinian protests have been held at college campuses nationwide, resulting in police breaking up encampments at some schools and arrests. 

Over 100 people were arrested on Wednesday night at the University of California, Los Angeles, after hundreds of protesters defied police orders to leave and about 24 hours after counter-protesters attacked the tent encampment on the campus.   

The chaotic night at UCLA came after arrests in New York City at Columbia University and City College. 

The White House has condemned violence and antisemitic rhetoric at some of the protests, while saying students have the right to protest peacefully. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has left decisions and consequences around the protests up to university presidents. 

“They have a right to peacefully protest as long as it’s within the law, and that it’s peaceful,” Jean-Pierre said in Wednesday’s press briefing. “Forcefully taking over building is not peaceful. It’s just not.” 

The president is heading to Charlotte and then Wilmington.