President Joe Biden has broken his virtual silence on the nationwide Gaza campus protests, saying the United States was not authoritarian but insisting “order must prevail”.

In a televised address from the White House, Biden added that there was “no place” for anti-semitism on university campuses, which have been roiled by pro-Palestinian demonstrations amid Israel’s bombardment in Gaza.

The 81-year-old Democrat — whose reelection bid in November faces a challenge from voters opposed to the bombardment — said there had to be a balance between the right to peaceful protest and the need to prevent violence.

“We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent,” Biden said from the podium in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.

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