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. i'm christian fraser. . this is "the context." >> violent protest is not protected. please look for this is of the love and violence occurred. the three and probably is not peaceful protest. reporter: police moved in in the early hours of the morning and the massive police the very place. they formed a ring of seal around the campus. >> >> to me this feels like a place we didn't need to end up being. it is something that many of us do not need to go through last night. ♪ christian: president biden breaks his silence on the protests at american universities. the president said

demonstrations have not influence his policy towards israel. the lighthouse is pushing for a cease-fire that tonight hangs in the balance. we will be on campus in texas and in jerusalem for the latest. the u.s. accuses russia of using chemical weapons ukraine. we will hear from an top weapons expert. and it is the assault on ukraine's gas plants causing problems for european gas supplies? we will get the view from kyiv. ♪ christian: very good evening. president biden has told the pro-palestinian demonstrators that they have the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos. it was the first time the president has spoken on the campus protests amid criticism from donald trump and republicans that he had been absent from the debate. pres. biden: peaceful protest in america. violent protest is not protected. peaceful protest is.

it's against the law when violence occurs. destroying property is not a physical process. it's against the law. vandalism, trespassing, brking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the confirmation of classes and graduations. none of this is peaceful protest. threatening people. intimidating pple, is not peaceful protest. it's against the law. dissent is essential to democracy but must ever lead to disorder or to deny the right of others so students can finish the semester and their college educationm the truth, president biden is walking a fine line in defending the right of free speech and confronting the balance and anti-semitism that has disrupted college life. overnight the police moved in on the campus of ucla. in the morning it was a field of ruins, tents and barricades extrude about. dozens were arrested. our north american correspondent was watching. reporter: after midnight, the

first signs police had begun to execute your operation. [explosions] [protestors chanting] >> we are not leaving! reporter: reporter: despite building a makeshift fortress around tm, the protesters' barricades were overpowered. we are seeing police going to one side of the encampment it looks like they are starting to tear tents down. if became clear the encampment was unlikely to last the night. hundreds of police formed a ring of steel member while others systematically took ground. a large number of officers are gradually making their way further in and they are setting off a volley of flashbangs here to disrupt the crowd. the deafening police grenades continued for much of the operation. somerotesters cleaned officers had fired at them with rubber bullets. but just before dawn, their task was almost complete. in a matter of hours, police have now dismantled and flattened much of this encampment and the last remaining protesters are now being detained and taken away.

it's been reported that more than 100 arrests were made. bbc news, can you give us your reaction to what has happened tonight? >> expected? reporter: expected? why did he want to be here? >>? >> it's upsetting. reporter: are you a student here? >> no. reporter: what do you feel you have achieved with this? president biden said students have a right to protest, but not to break the law. the university hasn't yet commented. by morning, this is what remained of the encampment that had occupied the main quad at ucla for a week. police operations across the us have demonstrated that encampment will not be tolerated for long. here, it has disrupted many students' exam week. it may still be some time before this campus returns to normality. and bardi, bbc news, los angeles.

christian: tom bateman is that because county jail in texas, where some protesters have been taken. what is going onround you? maybe we can see that the protests that have been on the campus here in dallas has shifted to hear, the collin county jail. protesters say 21 people were detained when texas state troopers moved in armed with batons and riot gear yesterday. we saw at least a dozen people being dragged away yesterday, authorities say the number is somewhere around 17. we are seeing the way this has sort of energized the protesters. they say these police tactics disproportionate, and so these antiwar protesters effectively have moved to outside the jail itself. [cheers and applause] reporter: i think this may be another moment about to happen, is when those who have been jailed are being released. a huge cheer from the crowd goes up, that one perhaps a bit premature. but we have seen in the last hour or two about five or so people being released a 90 move

over to the side of the protesters with a huge amount of applause and cheering. these people say they will remain here and tell everyone who is being held has been released. they called them political prisoners and they have been accusing police in texas for racism in the way they say they broke up the protests. kristin: the republicans have criticized president biden for being equivocal on this issue. did he enter the criticism today? reporter: i think he had to respond. the pressure has become so great, with pictures they are showing an american saying, what is happening on college campuses? remember, he is under dual pressures in the very polarized country because as you say, you have republicans accusing protesters of basically fueling an environment of anti-semitism on college campuses, something that protesters utterly reject. it should be said of the vast majority of these protesters are

entirely peaceful, that is what we have seen at the campus here in dallas and austin, as well. on the other hand saw the president biden's democratic base, many of whom oppose the way the u.s. is arming israel's war in gaza, he knows that those images of state troopers and heavily armed police with riot gear going into protests, is causing him a big problem among parts of his base. so trying to address it, he said people have the right to free speech, but not to cause chaos. i think that was the defense of the policing involved. i don't think that will do much to appease the protesters. , on the other hand, it probably hasn't done too much either to appease the republicans who are accusing him, as you say, of its revocation of this. he is caught in a bind, but that goes to the larger issue of the real off-ramp politically for president biden is that much

needed cease-fire deal. it is why political and he has been pursuing that, but so far, in a christian: tom, thank you very much. official city have made progress outlining what government security plans may look like in gaza if the cease-fire could be negotiated. still, hamas has to decide whether excellent accept the terms put forth by the israeli government politically includes the release, of hostages with the prospect that these families would be able to return to gaza. the major general of intelligence was informed that they are looking at the proposal in a positive spirit. he said the negotiating delegation will return to egypt to complete the ongoing discussions as soon as possible. our guest as an ambassador, former negotiator with hamas and now works for international community's organization.

thank you for being with us. good to have you on the program. what are you thinking about negotiations and where they stand tonight? guest: the fact that hamas has not said no is a good sign, the first good thing we have had in several weeks of negotiations. muskets announced they would send a negotiator back to cairo. we are waiting to see if this israeli government will also decide to send a negotiating team to cairo, that would also be a good sign. the most positive thing we can see tonight is that negotiations are continuing and, therefore, there is still reason for hope. christian: americans say they have made a lot of progress of the so-called day-after scenario. that would involve normalizing relations with saudi arabia and a cap two words a two-step solution. you wrote a piece that i read today, saying it would be the ultimate victory over hamas and islamic jihad if that could be achieved.

could you expln? guest: guest: sure, hamas is a political, islamic fundamentalist movement that was created in order to prevent any kind of peace process is developing between the state of israel and the palestinian people. hamas has always been against the two state solution recently they have, it -- come out with statements in support with it. but they have been full as opposed to the two-state solution and to recognizing israel. a two-state solution includes recognition of the state of israel and recognition of the state of palestine. it is the ultimate prize for israeli and palestinian people, but it is not what hamas has fought for all these years. hamas has led to destroy israel from the now they are being forced to come around to recognizing that israel is here to stay and they met as all get a piece of the land of palestine because they will not get all of it.

christian: but it doesn't seem like prime minister netanyahu wants it either feels the pressure to even engage with it. do you think given the losses on both sides and the viciousness in the latest cycle of war, that events move past him? guest: i think when this war is over, whenever it ends, we will have new leadership in israel from the google go to elections and the majority of israel is not with netanyahu. spend the majority of the palestinian side, hamas i not considered legitimate by the majority of the palestinian people. it has broad stretch of disasters to the palestinian people and they will need to recover from this horrific situation they are in and decide if you want to have a future of peace and stability and dignity, orontinue to struggle against israel and continue to lose.

it is time for for the sinister look forward and understand we can proceed to do this. also the international community recognizes that this conflict doesn't stay limited within the boundaries of the jordan river and the mediterranean sea, it has held over and will continue to spill. over it and dangerous international and regional security and the international community has to be serious about it. so i think we will see real changes in the not-too-distant future, despite the fact that our current leaders are opposed to it. christian: with respect to the operation he still seems intent on in rafah, do you think the secretary of state made any progress understanding, first on understanding what the plan is, in dissuading him? guest: the first step in preventing the land in person into rafah, 20% of the southern gaza strip is having an agreement on the cease-fire. if that gotiation fails and we

don't have an agreement, then i think israel will move forward with its plans to attack that area despite the objection of the international community and israel's neighbors. you don't have a threat that is real until you intend to use it and that is the situation israel is in right now. christian: always good to talk to you, thank you for coming out of the program. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. let's take a quick look at some of the other stories making headlines today. john sweeney looks set to become scotland's first minister after his potential rivals joined forces with him. he pledged to create a modern, diverse and dynamic scotland and to give the former finance secretary, ms. forbes, a significant role in his government. other candidates have until monday to come forward. the man charged with murdering schoolboy at daniel anjorin with a samurai sword in london

appeared in court. marcus monzo was remanded into custody over the attack in my note morning. the magistrates court heard daniel, who was 14, suffered fatal stab wounds, and four others were injured. take that error that latest pop group to move their concerts from the co-op library arena in manchester. a show by the wrapper a boogie with a foodie was called off from that olivia rodrigo has also had a concert canceled. there are two things happening simultaneously in ukraine that are deserving of much greater attention. it is the middle -- since the middle of march, moscow has intensified its attacks on ukraine's energy infrastructure and today, 50% of it is damaged. it is the price of living ukraine exposed and it will have a knock-on effect here in

europe. potentially it could lead to an increase in ukrainian demand for gas and electricity in europe, and an overall market response to the likelihood that vladimir putin is winning the war. before long we could be paying the price for that in our own domestic bills. >> when we don't deliver, when we delay supplie it's about life-and-death. it has real consequences. this war is not a theoretical thing, it is going on 24-7, and when we are not delivering as we should, then the ukrainians are paying the price. christian: of equal concern is russia's alleged use of choking agents at the front. the united statetoday accused russian forces of using a choking agent that has forced ukrainian troops to flee under fire or suffocate to death. the use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident, said the state department, at least 500 ukrainian troops have been treated for exposure to a toxic substance, one dying as a result of supplication.

a former british colonel has been giving me his analysis of the situation. >> the chemical is in effect for people would know about teargas or a riot control agents. its effects as a choking agent makes it difficult for people to breathe through into contact with it. incredibly faithful for your thighs or any area exposed that it gives a natural reaction to get out of the way for people because the best antidote for it is fresh air. used around the world by police and riot control forces to contain crowds. unfortunately also, used in warfare and it is illegal in warfare because it is very similar to a chemical weapon and actually illegal another chemical weapons convention. christian: what does the convention say about its use? guest: in warfare, all toxic

chemicals used to injure or kill people are illegal. not only under the chemical weapons convention, but also under the geneva convention. it is like ambiguity, which i think the russians are really playing on, to be used by police against riong crowds, it is legal. but in warfare, it is illegal. christian: as you say, the kremlin denies it and says moscow remains bound by their obligations under the treaty. is there any way to prove it is being used? does it linger? can it be tested? guest: absolutely. apart from what the u.s. state department as said overnight that they are sure that this chemical is being used, there have been a two investigations in the last two weeks, one by reuters and one by the telegraph, which i was involved in. it was an extensive

investigation across the front lines with people involved and samples of the projectiles used for recovered and proved to be cs gas or cn gas riot control agents. there is no doubt the ukraine government has submitted a report to the un's police body, the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons, stating that over 600 times -- now this report is a couple of months old and in the last few months, the face of use of these riot control agents has increased markedly and they are thought to be over 1000 use it in the last six months or so. christian: in this syrian war we talked about a redline being crossed and once it was crossed, there were several incidents of these weapons being used against civilian populations. what would be your concern now that we are starting to see evidence of this for the first time? guest: i think first of all, the

russians saw how effective toxic chemicals like this were in the syrian war and i collected evidence of that myself and saw it first-hand. if you have no morals or scruples, they are incredibly effective in putting people out, as it were. i think it is this great area, this area of ambiguity that the russians are playing too. president biden said last year that use of chemical weapo with illicit a direct response from the american government, but they did say the context in which it is used. as far as chemical weapons go, this is on the least dangerous or at least toxic side of the scale but it is proving effective because ukrainian troops don't have effective gas masks. they are leaving their trenches for five or 10 minutes to try to recover from this gasp and in that time russians a using regular weapons and assaulting and taking those positions.

a lot of the games the last few months have been on the back of using this illegal weapon. christian: is there anyway that we can help with this? guest: yes, we certainly can. these doctored chemicals are only effective for a few minutes, five to 10 minutes at most, but the problem at the moment is that the gas must have -- gas masks ukrainians have our soviet ones that don't work for britain it is a leading producer of top-quality gas masks we produce the american military and british military and most nato countries. it would be straightforward and easy for britain to solve this problem by giving the ukrainian military effective gas masks which would make this illegal weapon of no consequence on the battlefield and wouldn't give the rest the advantage it currently has. christian: english breton gordon, supplies of missiles have not been forthcoming and that is the problem around the country in defending some of these energy plants.

they ukrainian mp and a regular on the program, she is with me from keys glad to have you on the program again. let's talk about energy. president zelenskyy has made several urgent appeals for supplies to be speeded up, how ex post are these energy fence around the country? guest: to explain the damage that was done over the last month, the last month, the russians have destroyed half of our demand during peak hours. likely right now in may, the demand is not so high, but come june, july, we will have to switch off our nuclear power for maintenance and have problems with delivering electricity to all those who need it. we already have probms in some areas including car keys because of the transmission system being damaged, as well. but the biggest problem would be doing the winter.

the winter months. then we will really feel the destruction of our big demand and will not have the capacity to cover it with anything truly at this point. christian: there was a recent psych on two underground storage facilities west of the country which caused a significant spike in european gas prices. the reason for that if they were fully operational, and the europeans were treating some of that gas. so the question is, how connected are people in europe, how connected are there domestic energy bills to what is going on now? guest: luckily, those are tax on gas storage is have not been as successful as their attacks on generation. right now i think it is more the expectation for the attacks rather than the real destruction of gas that was stored there, so

i wouldn't say that it has direct influence, but it does influence the market and the expectation is of the worst to complement that could shape the market. but i wouldn't say it is the biggest contributor. christian: what about the winter, to fill the shortfall you are talking about, presumably ukraine would have to draw energy from the european supplies. does that put further strain on the markets? is that what we are talking about? guest: we will probably buy european electricity during the winter. our capacity to buy electricity from the evening is limited, so they wouldn't significantly influence the european market just because the technical capacity and the regulatory capacity are very limited. so i wouldn't say that this means the ukraine will take up a big portion of european energy producing. for gas, we have only been storing european gas, we have

been using our own gas for consumption here. so unless we need additional gas for our needs, which doesn't seem likely right now, i don't think this will influence the european market dramatically. if that continues with the attacks, that the situation could change. christian: right. talk to me about the situation at the front of being used in advances in some places. the frontline is under pressure right now. how serious is it becoming? guest: extremely serious. of coue we have all been excited about the congress providing aid to ukraine family, but unfortunately it did not change the situation on the frontline, we still feel a lack of supplies and unfortunately the russians have so much increased their capacity to attack. they have so much more drones and missiles and they e really moving forward on the east specifically and not so much of

the south from it we are concerned about potential attacks in the next month. and unfortunately, we don't have what it takes to stop it, including the air superiority, which remains the biggest challenge to the ukrainian frontline. christian: just click me, is life-changing for you in kyiv as a result? guest: we have had several attacks around steve in the last few months. thankfully we still have electricity here. very concerned about what is to come over the summer and especially over the winter. people are feeling, they know the level of destruction of the energy infrastructure have been bad so they are trying to get ready, but there is only so much you can do if you live in a multistoried apartment building. so, yes, people feel pressure, exhaustion, they feel abandoned. christian: we have got to go to a brakes. always greato talk to you. stay

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