India underlined on Thursday the need to balance freedom of expression and public safety amid pro-Palestinian protests at universities across the United States, which have led to widespread violence and arrests. Addressing a weekly media briefing, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We are all judged by what we do at home and not what we say abroad.”
This comes as over 100 people were arrested Wednesday at two universities in California and Texas after protests erupted across US campuses this week.”We have seen reports on the matter and have been following related events. In every democracy, there has to be the right balance between freedom of expression, sense of responsibility and public safety and order,” Jaiswal said in response to a question posed during the press briefing.
“Democracies in particular should display this understanding in regard to other fellow democracies. After all, we are all judged by what we do at home and not what we say abroad,” he added. Demonstrations flared at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Los Angeles campus, where 93 people were arrested for trespassing, and at the University of Texas (UT) in Austin, where 34 were arrested, according to authorities.
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On-Campus Protests
The tense standoffs were among the latest on-campus confrontations between law enforcement, including police in riot gear, and banner-wielding students outraged at the mounting death toll in Israel’s war against Palestinian militant group Hamas. USC said on social media site X at around midnight that the protest had ended and the campus would remain “closed until further notice.”
“Students, faculty, staff, and people with business on campus may enter with proper identification,” the university said. Los Angeles police officers went to the campus on Wednesday afternoon and “assisted the university in effecting trespass arrests” when protesters refused to leave, Captain Kelly Muniz told reporters. The LAPD said there were no reports of injuries and patrols would remain in the area on Thursday.
The spreading pro-Palestinian protests began at Columbia University in New York, where dozens of arrests were made last week after university authorities called in police to quell a protest encampment that some Jewish students said was threatening and anti-Semitic. Demonstrators, including a number of Jewish students, have disavowed instances of anti-Semitism and criticized officials equating it with opposition to Israel.
As students and other demonstrators have camped out on school quads, occupied university buildings and disrupted campus activities, universities this week have affirmed their rights to free speech and peaceful protest. However, pro-Israel supporters and others worried about campus safety have also pointed to anti-Semitic incidents and allege that campuses are encouraging intimidation and hate speech.
(With agency inputs)
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