US President Joe Biden insisted on Thursday that “order must prevail” on college campuses after weeks of turmoil, clashes with police and mass arrests involving student protests against Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, AFP reports.

Biden, who had remained tight-lipped as the student unrest expanded, spoke just hours after hundreds of police moved in to forcibly clear a sprawling encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles, tearing down barriers and detaining more than 200 protestors.

“We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent,” Biden, who has faced criticism from all sides of the political spectrum over the demonstrations, said in a televised statement from the White House.

“But neither are we a lawless country. We’re a civil society, and order must prevail,” he added.