Protesters chanted anti-war messages and waved Palestinian flags during a University of Michigan graduation ceremony on Saturday.
The protest took place at the start of the event at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. About 75 people, many wearing traditional Arabic keffiyehs and graduation caps, walked down the main aisle toward the stage where diplomas were handed out.
They chanted, “Rulers, rulers, you can't hide!” You are funding genocide! While they raised banners, one of which carried the message: “No more universities in Gaza.”
Above their heads, planes broadcast competing messages, including “Divest your investments from Israel now!” Liberate Palestine! » and «We stand with Israel. “Jewish lives matter.”
Authorities said no one was arrested and that the demonstration did not seriously disrupt the event, which lasted for nearly two hours and was attended by tens of thousands of people, some waving Israeli flags.
State police prevented protesters from reaching the stage, and university spokeswoman Colleen Mastone said public safety personnel escorted the protesters to the back of the stadium, where they remained until the end of the event.
“Peaceful protests like this have occurred during graduation ceremonies for decades at the University of Michigan,” she added.
US Navy Secretary Carlos del Toro paused several times during his speech, saying at one point: “Ladies and gentlemen, if you could direct your attention back to the podium.”
Before swearing in the armed forces graduates, he said they would “protect the freedoms we hold so dear,” including “the right to peaceful protest.”
The university allowed protesters to set up camp on campus, but police helped disperse a large gathering at a graduation ceremony on Friday evening. One person was arrested.
More than 2,400 arrests
The University of Michigan was among the institutions preparing for protests during graduation ceremonies this weekend, including Indiana University, Ohio State University and Northeastern University in Boston. More are planned in the coming weeks.
At Indiana University, demonstrators urged their supporters to wear keffiyehs and leave during President Pamela Whitten's speech on Saturday evening. The Bloomington University campus in Indiana has designated a protest area outside Memorial Stadium, where the ceremony will be held.
Camps of protesters demanding that universities stop doing business with Israel or with companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread to campuses across the United States in recent weeks, in a student movement unprecedented this century. Some institutions reached agreements with the demonstrators to end the protests and reduce the risk of disrupting final exams.
Many camps have been dismantled and hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested in recent days. The Associated Press (AP) counted at least 61 incidents in which arrests occurred during protests on campuses across the country. More than 2,400 people were arrested on 47 different college campuses. These numbers are based on AP reporting and data from universities and law enforcement.
“Solidarity fasting”
In Princeton, New Jersey, 18 students began a hunger strike in an attempt to pressure the university to divest from companies linked to Israel.
One of them, David Chmielewski, said in an email on Saturday that the protest began Friday morning and that participants were consuming only water.
He stressed that this hunger strike will continue until university administrators meet with students about their demands, which include stopping criminal and disciplinary charges against the demonstrators.
He added that other demonstrators are participating in a “solidarity fast” that will last 24 hours.
Princeton students set up a protest camp and some occupied an office building this week, leading to the arrest of about 15 people.
Separately, police broke up a demonstration at the University of Virginia on Saturday, calling it an “unlawful assembly” in a message posted on the X platform.
The authorities did not say how many people were arrested.
Meanwhile, near Boston, students at Tufts University peacefully destroyed their protest camp without police intervention on Friday evening. Protest organizers said in a statement that they were “extremely angry and disappointed” by the failure of negotiations with the university.
The protests follow the conflict between Israel and Hamas that began on October 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking about 250 others hostage.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas, and launched an attack on Gaza that killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of whom were women and children, according to the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-run enclave. The Israeli strikes displaced most of Gaza's residents.
