On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) stated that the encampment on Columbia was “completely peaceful” and “Some of the images that we saw from UCLA and other places made it look like a bunch of disorder. But the majority of these protests are peaceful. When you send in hundreds of military-dressed law enforcement officers into a college, that brings the disorder and that brings the chaos.”
Bowman said, “We want the protests to be peaceful. We do not want violent protests. I visited the Columbia encampment last week, and they were completely peaceful. There was a space for mental health supports, there was a library, there was food, there was coffee, there was water, and they were crystal clear on their demands. They are protesting the collective punishment of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
He added, “Some of the images that we saw from UCLA and other places made it look like a bunch of disorder. But the majority of these protests are peaceful. When you send in hundreds of military-dressed law enforcement officers into a college, that brings the disorder and that brings the chaos. And we just heard reports that a gun was fired [at] Columbia by a member of law enforcement. That’s the only gun that’s been fired at any protest. And so, we need educators and professors to do their jobs and create spaces for critical dialogue, critical discussion. And we can’t lose sight [of] what they’re protesting, U.S. dollars going to a country that is bombing and killing and starving children. That is what’s unacceptable.”
Bowman concluded, “We need more protests that are peaceful to hold us accountable towards what we should be working on in Congress.”
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