Anti-Jewish, pro-Hamas protesters — such as those seen at Columbia and Yale — will be expelled if they try to pull the same stunts at Florida universities, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) made clear on Thursday.
“You think about what happened when you have these Hamas demonstrators out. They’re taking over bridges, and they’re taking over roads,” he said, noting that these individuals do not have the right to do that.
“How do you know if someone — someone may need to get to a hospital. Someone may need to pick up a child somewhere, and you’re just going to commandeer the road,” he said, highlighting the viral instance that saw protesters trying to pull that same stunt in Miami, Florida. In a matter of minutes, police officers responded, dragging the protesters out of the roads:
“We’re not going to tolerate that. You look at these universities. When we have students who are doing things that — I mean, some of the stuff with the Hamas, I think, is absurd that someone would go out and demonstrate on that,” DeSantis said, adding, “But you know, when you’re chasing Jewish students around, when you’re not letting a Jewish professor enter a building, when you’re targeting people like that, that’s not free speech.”
DeSantis said such actions are clearly harassment that violates appropriate conduct. Yet, students doing this at places such as Columbia and Yale “rule the roost” and “do whatever they want.”
“And these administrators and the presidents of these universities are weak. They’re scared, and they don’t do anything,” he said, making it clear such behavior will not fly in the Sunshine State.
“You do that in Florida at our universities, we’re showing you the door. You’re going to be expelled when you’re doing that stuff, and you know what, the minute people start to face consequences, you are not going to see this nonsense going on,” the governor added.
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DeSantis’s remarks come as Columbia has canceled in-person classes as pro-Hamas protests continue to run amok.
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Such protests are occurring at other schools across the country, including Harvard, where pro-Hamas, anti-Israel protesters received a surprise wake-up call after automatic sprinklers soaked their encampment, sending protesters into a tizzy.