Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson speaks at a news conference at Columbia University in response to Demonstrators protesting in support of Palestinians, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in New York City, US, April 24, 2024.
The University of Southern California declared its campus closed and asked the Los Angeles Police Department to clear a demonstration. Police arrested students who peacefully surrendered one by one, hours after campus police who took down an encampment were overwhelmed by protesters and requested LAPD help.
Israel’s fierce response followed a deadly October 7 cross-border raid by militants from Hamas, which controls the Gaza enclave. Johnson, whose job as House Speaker has been threatened by ultraconservative Republicans in his caucus, could have expected a cold welcome from students on a New York City campus known as a liberal bastion.
Before his press conference, Johnson met with about 40 Jewish students on campus, according to students who were there. Free speech advocates PEN America called the sudden escalation at the University of Texas “deeply alarming”.