As protests of the war in Gaza roil college campuses, the issue has reverberated through Congress, provoking strong emotions and political sparring.

Progressive staffers came out in support of encampments that Republicans — and some Democrats — have rushed to condemn, a day after police arrested around 300 people in New York City and opposing protestors clashed at UCLA.

“As we watch students standing up, coming together, and speaking truth to power about the bombardment and blockade of Gaza, we see a generation of unheard voices rallying for justice in the same way civil rights and anti-war protestors have throughout American history,” the Congressional Progressive Staff Association said in a statement Wednesday.

The staff group “unequivocally stands alongside these nonviolent student protestors and their efforts to raise the alarm about the complicity of both their colleges and of the United States in the War on Gaza,” the statement continues.

The protests have raised questions about free speech on college campuses. And they’ve put Democrats in an awkward political position, especially as scenes have escalated and police have cracked down.

“You have an absolute right to free speech in America, you can protest. But the First Amendment does not give you the right to break windows, to vandalize buildings, to take over private buildings, and to make students who happen to be of Jewish descent feel unsafe,” said California Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu during a Tuesday House Democratic leadership press conference. Lieu was referring to a group of protestors at Columbia University who occupied an administrative building. Police in riot gear responded to take back the building that night.

Meanwhile, Republican leaders in Congress have seized on the unrest to score political points.

On Wednesday, Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton held a press conference with a group of his GOP colleagues condemning the “hate-filled little Gazas.”

“It’s time to stop these antisemitic, pro-Hamas mobs today. And if liberal college administrators won’t take action, the mayors and the governors of these campuses should. And so should (President) Joe Biden,” Cotton said during the press conference.

Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday announced a “House-wide effort to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses” during a press conference with Republican committee chairs. A week earlier, Johnson and a group of House Republicans visited Columbia’s campus and called for the university’s president to step down. Johnson also suggested the National Guard should be called in “if this is not contained quickly.”

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