One side held Israeli flags while the other carried pro-Palestinian signs, but they agreed on one thing.
Both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian protest at the University of Alabama were united in their disdain for President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
‘Fuck Joe Biden,’ both sides of the rally chanted in unison on Wednesday, according to a video of the scene shared on social media.
According to The Crimson White, hundreds of students gathered to protest the school’s alleged financial ties to the Department of Defense and defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
One side, led by the AU Left Collective, formed the ‘Protest for Palestinian Lives’ and demanded that the university cut its ties with any company linked to Israel or aiding in the war in Gaza.
‘Fuck Joe Biden,’ both sides of the rally chanted in unison on Wednesday, according to a video of the scene shared on social media.
One side, led by the UA Leftist Collective, formed the ‘Protest for Palestinian Lives’ and demanded that the school cut ties with any company related to Israel.
Biden has faced pressure from conservatives and leftists over his stance on both the situation in Gaza and student protests at universities across the country. On Thursday he rejected calls from student protesters to change his approach to the conflict.
The university said in a statement: “Protests were held on campus today by groups with opposing views. The University appreciates that attendees peacefully exercised their right to freedom of expression, without interruptions, violence, vandalism or arrests.’
While the protest at UA remained peaceful and without arrests, most student protesters across the country, including Columbia and UCLA, have not been as successful in finding common ground.
Tensions on college campuses have been rising for days as protesters refuse to clear encampments and administrators turn to police to forcibly remove them, leading to clashes that have garnered widespread attention.
Biden has faced pressure from conservatives and leftists over his stance on both the situation in Gaza and student protests at universities across the country.
On Thursday, he rejected calls from student protesters to change his approach to the conflict, while insisting that “order must prevail” as college campuses across the country face a wave of violence, outrage and fear.
‘Dissent is essential to democracy,’ Biden said at the White House. “But dissent should never lead to disorder.”
The Democrat broke days of silence about the protests with his comments, which followed growing criticism from Republicans who have sought to turn scenes of unrest into a campaign cudgel.
By focusing on a message of law and order while defending the right to free speech, Biden is seeking a middle ground on an intensely divisive issue amid his re-election campaign.
He largely sidestepped protesters’ demands, which included ending US support for Israeli military operations.
While the protest at UA remained peaceful, most student protesters across the country have not been as successful in finding common ground. Pro-Palestinian protester arrested at UT Austin
Law enforcement officers detain a protester while clearing the protest camp in support of Palestinians at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
The NYPD took action to clear Hamilton Hall on April 30, less than 24 hours after it was occupied by protesters at Columbia University on Wednesday.
Asked after his remarks whether the protests would lead him to consider a change of course, Biden responded with a simple “no.”
Biden said he rejected efforts to use the situation to “score political points,” calling the situation a “moment of clarity.”
The president’s last previous public comment on the protests came more than a week ago, when he condemned “anti-Semitic protests” and “those who do not understand what is happening to the Palestinians.”
The White House, which has been peppered with questions from reporters, had gone only slightly further than the president.
On Wednesday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was “closely monitoring the situation” and that some protests had crossed a line between free speech and illegal behavior.
“Taking control of a building by force,” as happened at Columbia University in New York, “is not peaceful,” he said. “It just isn’t.”