India advocates for balance in free speech and public order amid US campus protests

New Delhi/Washington: Protests at prominent US universities against Israeli actions in Gaza have led to the arrest of numerous students, aiming to suppress the demonstrations. Amid these events, India emphasised the importance of maintaining a delicate balance between freedom of expression, civic responsibility, and public safety within democracies.

Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, highlighted this stance during a press briefing.

“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.

“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 said replying to a question.

Addressing inquiries about the involvement of Indian students, Jaiswal confirmed that no requests for assistance had been received by the Indian embassy or consulates in the US concerning the protests.

He said: “We urge all citizens, whether in India or overseas, to adhere to the respective local laws and regulations.”

At least 200 people were arrested at UCLA Thursday, bringing the nationwide total of arrests to more than 2,000 at dozens of college campuses since police cleared an encampment at Columbia University in mid-April, according to a tally by The Associated Press.

Demonstrations — and arrests — have occurred in almost every corner of the nation.

But in the last 24 hours, they’ve drawn the most attention at the University of California, Los Angeles, where chaotic scenes played out early Thursday as officers in riot gear surged against a crowd of demonstrators.

The nationwide campus demonstrations began at Columbia on April 17 to protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza, following Hamas’ deadly attack on southern Israel on October 7.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden emphasised the importance of peaceful protest as a democratic right, while also underscoring the necessity for maintaining order.

“Dissent is essential for democracy,” he said at the White House. “But dissent must never lead to disorder.”

He affirmed that these protests have not swayed his stance on the Middle East, nor has he considered deploying the National Guard in response.

Despite facing criticism for his continued support of Israel, including arms supplies, Biden remains steadfast in his policy approach. The unrest on college campuses, marked by persistent encampments and forceful law enforcement interventions, has captured the attention of both politicians and the media.

Police removed barricades and began dismantling a pro-Palestinian demonstrators’ fortified encampment early Thursday at the University of California, Los Angeles, after hundreds of protesters defied orders to leave. Some people were detained, their hands bound with zip ties.

The action came after officers spent hours threatening arrests over loudspeakers if people did not disperse. A crowd of more than 1,000 had gathered on campus, both inside a barricaded tent encampment and outside it, in support. Protesters and police shoved and scuffled as officers encountered resistance.

With police helicopters hovering, the sound of flash-bangs, which produce a bright light and a loud noise to disorient and stun people, pierced the air. Protesters chanted, “Where were you last night?” at the officers, in reference to Tuesday night, when counter-protesters attacked the encampment and the UCLA administration and campus police took hours to respond.

Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in a student movement unlike any other this century. The ensuing police crackdowns echoed actions decades ago against a much larger protest movement protesting the Vietnam War.

In the Mideast, Iranian state television carried live images of the police action, as did Qatar’s pan-Arab Al Jazeera satellite network. Live images of Los Angeles also played across Israeli television networks, as well.

California Highway Patrol officers poured into the campus by the hundreds early Thursday. Wearing face shields and protective vests, they stood with their batons protruding out to separate them from demonstrators, who wore helmets and gas masks and chanted, “You want peace. We want justice.”

Police methodically ripped apart the encampment’s barricade of plywood, pallets, metal fences and trash dumpsters and made an opening toward dozens of tents of demonstrators. Officers also began to pull down canopies and tents. Demonstrators rebuilt the makeshift barriers around their tents on Wednesday while state and campus police watched.

Elsewhere, police in New Hampshire said they made 90 arrests and took down tents at Dartmouth College and officers in Oregon came onto the campus at Portland State University as school officials sought to end the occupation of the library that started Monday.

New York police burst into a building occupied by war protesters at Columbia University on Tuesday night, breaking up a demonstration that had paralyzed the school.

At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, a scrum broke out early Wednesday after police with shields removed all but one tent and shoved protesters. Four officers were injured, including a state trooper who was hit in the head with a skateboard, authorities said. Four were charged with battering law enforcement.

At Brown University in Rhode Island, administrators agreed to consider a vote to divest from Israel in October — apparently the first US college to agree to such a demand. with agency inputs