(Danville) — The state’s top cop used his stop in Danville Tuesday to weigh in on the recent unrest at several college campuses in Virginia.
Dozens of students were arrested at Virginia Tech Sunday night after defying the school’s requests they disperse. There was also unrest Monday night on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
Speaking at an event outside of the new Danville Police Department headquarters, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said free speech is protected, until certain lines are crossed. “If you think you can occupy an academic building in Virginia, if you’re so foolish to do what you’ve seen around the country and directly threaten our Jewish students, or side with those that want to publicly exterminate our Jewish brethren and citizens; then there will be consequences,” Miyares said.
There was violence Monday night during a confrontation between police and protestors at VCU. Campus police report 13 people, including six students, were arrested. “Some of our finest men and women to wear the badge were assaulted,” Miyares said. “To those perpetrators, we will use every resource we have to track you down. We will find you, we will prosecute you. There will be consequences for your actions.”
Demonstrations at college campuses across the nation have prompted some federal lawmakers to introduce a bill to authorize the Department of Education to monitor antisemitism at colleges that receive federal funding. “The Attorney General’s office has been proud to work with our partners in law enforcement to make sure that every student in Virginia can go on a college and not be looking over their shoulder in fear,” Miyares said. “They should be able to learn in an academic setting without having to hear vile calls for the extermination of an entire country. That is wrong.”
At Virginia Tech Sunday night 82 people were arrested. 53 of them were Tech students. “This type of intimidation was wrong back in the 1930s, it was wrong in the 1940s, and it’s wrong today. And we will not have here in Virginia,” Miyares said. “Virginia is not New York. “We have a different Governor and a different Attorney General in charge and it’s not gonna happen on our watch.”
(Attorney General Jason Miyares poses with members of Danville City Council)