Speaker Johnson drowned out by crowds at Columbia speech on Gaza protests [Video]

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., struggled to get a word in edgewise Wednesday, battling a chorus of booing crowds during a speech at Columbia University where he condemned the ongoing student protests against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

“Enjoy your free speech,” Johnson said tersely, pausing his prepared remarks to wait for the jeering to die down.

Columbia’s campus has been frozen by controversy since student protesters set up a tent encampment April 17 to protest the war in Gaza.

The demonstrations garnered national attention amid reports of antisemitic speech targeting Jewish students, and after Columbia President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik authorized the New York Police Department to sweep the tent encampment Thursday.

Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that helped organize the protests, has said that any hate speech is not coming from its protesters but rather “inflammatory individuals who do not represent us.”

During Johnson’s speech Wednesday, he called on Shafik to …