Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, on Monday urged people whose paths were blocked by pro-Palestinian protesters to “take matters into their own hands” and confront the perpetrators, and advocated the use of physical force against them peaceful protesters.
In a series of social media posts after protesters paralyzed traffic in cities across the country, including major streets in Oakland, California, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport Mr. Cotton called those responsible: “Pro-Hamas” and “criminals”.
During a recent interview, he also shared a clip of himself saying that if protesters had disrupted public streets in his home state of Arkansas, they would have been met with violence by citizens.
“Let’s just say I think there would be a lot of very wet criminals who would have been thrown overboard – not by law enforcement, but by the people whose street they’re blocking,” he said in the Fox News interview. “If they stuck their hands to their car or the sidewalk, it would probably be pretty painful if their skin was ripped off.”
On Tuesday morning, Mr. Cotton released a video showing a group of men in orange vests forcibly removing protesters from a street that appears to be outside the United States. In the clip, a man can be seen roughly dragging a protester off the street by his feet.
“As it should be done,” Mr. Cotton wrote.
Dozens of protesters who caused the traffic jam at the Golden Gate Bridge were finally arrested on Monday. Police officials said this is how the process should work and that people should not take matters into their own hands.
“We do not encourage violence of any kind,” Officer Darrel Horner, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, said in an interview Tuesday. He said drivers who experience any type of disturbance should leave the situation to authorities, and he noted that even deciding to exit the vehicle to respond could land a driver in legal trouble.
“You can’t be a pedestrian on the motorway, so technically you can’t even get out of your car,” Mr Horner said.
Mr Cotton’s comments came as protesters angered by US support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza have stepped up their civil disobedience in recent days.
Mr. Cotton caused a stir in 2020 with an opinion essay in The New York Times in which he called for the use of military force to quell unrest across the country amid unrest following the death of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of police was killed in Minneapolis.
“One thing above all else will restore order to our streets,” he wrote at the time: “an overwhelming show of force to disperse, detain and ultimately deter lawbreakers.”
Other elected officials also sharply criticized the pro-Palestinian protesters. Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, who has been among Israel’s most vocal supporters during the conflict, released a video on Tuesday of protesters demonstrating at a Starbucks and said such behavior was outrageous.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but blocking a bridge or insulting people in Starbucks is not justified,” he wrote on social media, describing those who take such actions with a vulgar phrase that refers to referred to a despicable person.
But he did not call for targeted action against demonstrators.
“Demand that Hamas send every hostage home and surrender,” Mr. Fetterman wrote.
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2024-04-16 21:10:38
www.nytimes.com
