Students must have the right to free speech but “violent protest is not protected” under the law, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday, as university campuses from New York to Los Angeles were gripped by unrest over Israel’s war in Gaza. “We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent. The American people are heard,” Biden said at the White House. “In fact, peaceful protest is in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues. But neither are we a lawless country. We are a civil society and order must prevail,” Biden added. Speaking just ho…