Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is facing major heat from her liberal colleagues for putting public safety over politics with the police response to protests at Emerson College.

The Gaza protests that have been erupting across the nation triggered a rare split in the progressive ranks, with most liberal pols in Massachusetts lining up against the Wu administration arresting protesters and breaking up a tent encampment near Emerson.

All the other knee-jerk lefties like U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley defaulted to the easy political position of opposing the police action against the protesters.

“I am grateful to students nationwide and across the Massachusetts 7th – at Emerson, Northeastern, MIT, Tufts, Boston University, Harvard and more – who are raising their voices and putting their bodies on the line to press for action to save lives in Gaza,” Pressley said. “I call on university administrators to ensure that there are no academic repercussions for peaceful student protesters, and I urge law enforcement to exercise restraint.”

Easy to say for Pressley, who as a congresswoman has no actual responsibilities to keep people safe. She added that her office will be “monitoring the situation” at campuses in her district.

Guess who else said they will be “monitoring” the protests? City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune.

“I caution against heavy-handed responses to protest,” she said. “While there are legitimate public safety concerns, the presence of tents alone does not transform a peaceful protest into an unpeaceful one.”

Louijeune, who has no responsibilities like Wu, also called on authorities to dismiss all the cases against protesters.

Interesting that Louijeune’s statement comes as she’s preparing for a big campaign fundraiser sponsored by Shawmut Strategies Group and headlined by Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Is she trying to fatten her war chest to keep up with Councilor Ed Flynn in case Wu doesn’t run next year? Seems like it.

It would have been easy for Ray Flynn or Marty Walsh or Tom Menino to order the police response, but not for progressive darling Wu.

But there were potentially serious consequences if Wu didn’t act. What if there was a fire and firefighters had to have access to that alley where the tents were?

She had no choice but to defer to public safety but she took the hit anyway.

And there is actually an ordinance on the books prohibiting tent encampments – a leftover from Wu’s clearing of people living in tents on Mass and Cass.

It would have been difficult to let the tents stay at Emerson considering her response to Mass and Cass.

Let’s hope it’s the first step toward regaining control of the city.

Other things she should crack down on are road rallies in the Back Bay, and people riding mopeds in Franklin Park.

Wu probably won’t suffer long-term damage from her standing by police, because it’s not like she’ll be challenged next year by another liberal.

It might actually broaden her base and make her less vulnerable to a challenge next year.