Trump praises police for storming: Beautiful

Donald Trump

Trump after the police storming: "Beautiful"

Knut Sahlin Ekberg

Updated 13.25 | Published 13.19

Student protests continue in the US.

At a campaign rally, ex-president Donald Trump called the protesters "lunatics".

- Take back our campuses for all normal students, he said.

Quick version

• Student protests are taking place at universities in the United States and more than 1,300 people have been arrested. The protests are fueled by frustration over the US's handling of the war between Israel and Hamas.
• Former President Donald Trump called the protesters "lunatics" at a campaign rally and urged President Joe Biden to crack down.
• Biden, despite denouncing anti-Semitism, has been relatively quiet about the protests. He is in a politically sensitive position given the Gaza war and the upcoming presidential election.

The American ex-president Donald Trump thunders against the student protests in the USA.

In a statement during his campaign rally yesterday, Trump called the protesters "raging lunatics" - while urging President Joe Biden to mark hard.

For several weeks, demonstrations have taken place at 30 universities in the United States. Over 1,300 people have been arrested in connection with these.

Police officers at Columbia University. Photo: Craig Ruttle/AP

Has escalated

At the root is a frustration with how the US acted in the war between Israel and Hamas, several of them demand that the institutions stop doing business with Israel or companies that can be connected to the country's defense industry, The Guardian reports.

In recent days it has escalated further. On Tuesday evening, the police in New York stormed a building belonging to Colombia University, following an appeal from the school's principal. There, students had barricaded themselves.

But in California, at UCLA, the violence has been at its worst. Counter-protesters attacked pro-Palestinians on campus overnight Wednesday, injuring 15 people. Several American media reports that law enforcement failed to intervene.

Tent occupation on campus. Photo: AP

Trump: Defeat the radicals

During his campaign rally, Trump claimed, without basis, that the protesters have been hired by liberal groups to draw attention from the refugee wave at the Mexico border, writes the New York Times.

In the same vein, he praised the New York police for their actions at Columbia University. He called it a "beautiful thing to see," according to Reuters.

- New York was under siege last night.

He encouraged similar action in several places in the country.

- To every principal, I say remove the camps immediately. Defeat the radicals and take back our campuses for all normal students, Trump said.

Donald Trump. Photo: Morry Gash/AP

During the campaign rally, Trump also referenced the violent neo-Nazi protests that raged in Charlottesville in 2017. Then one woman died and 40 were injured. Trump called it "small potatoes" in comparison to the current student demonstrations.

He also aimed a boot at Joe Biden and the Democrats. Their strategy of calling for peaceful demonstrations and condemning violence, Trump believes, is not sufficient.

Biden, in turn, has not said much about the demonstrations. According to CNN, he is in a sensitive political situation due to the war in Gaza and the upcoming presidential election.

However, he has condemned anti-Semitism, but also "those who do not understand what is happening to Palestinians".

That has led Republicans to accuse him of playing both sides.