The protests by university students and academics as well as elites in Western countries, which are held in support of Gaza, are a big event that has many aspects, the president said on Sunday during a cabinet session in Tehran.

He added that the crackdown against the protests and arrests of students and academics, especially in the US, is “another chapter of a scandal by those claiming to defend free speech”.

Today, thanks to the martyrdom of innocent Palestinians in Gaza, the true face of Western civilianization has been revealed to people across the world, Raisi further said, adding that those who claim to defend free speech are committed to nothing but to maintain their dominance.

He stressed that the crackdown will not stop the protests against cruelty and crimes.

Protests against the Israeli regime’s genocide in Gaza have been spreading through American campuses and elsewhere in Australia and Europe over the past days.

Protesters want their universities to divest from Israel and stop funding the genocide.