International Desk, Bangladesh Global: Campus protests against the Israel-Gaza war "cannot be targeted at individuals" or disrupt learning, the education secretary has said.
Gillian Keegan told BBC News the government defended the right to free speech but "it has to be done in a respectful way". She is joining the prime minister and university leaders to discuss tackling antisemitism. (BBC)
Universities say they take anitsemitism on campuses "very seriously".Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has warned protests are disrupting learning on university campuses and, in some cases, "propagating outright harassment and antisemitic abuse".
He will call on vice-chancellors to ensure Jewish students are protected.
Ms Keegan told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the meeting was to support vice-chancellors to defend free speech but also protect students.
"It’s not an easy thing to do - we do understand that," she said, adding some vice-chancellors had taken "firm steps".
"We need to show leadership, we need to de-escalate and we need to share the best practice which we’ve seen from some vice-chancellors."
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