Protesters chanted anti-war messages and waved Palestinian flags during the University of Michigan’s commencement 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, marched down the main aisle toward the stage where diplomas were presented.
They chanted “Regents, regents, you cannot hide!” You are financing the genocide! ”, while brandishing signs, one of which bore the message “No more universities in Gaza.”
Above their heads, planes broadcast competing messages, including “Divest from Israel now!” Liberate Palestine! » and “We stand with Israel. Jewish lives matter.”
Authorities said no one was arrested and the protest did not seriously disrupt the nearly two-hour event attended by tens of thousands of people, some of whom waved Israeli flags.
State police blocked protesters from reaching the stage, and university spokeswoman Colleen Mastony said public safety personnel escorted the protesters to the rear of the stadium, where they are remained until the end of the event.
“Peaceful protests like this have taken place during commencement ceremonies for decades at the University of Michigan,” she added.
U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro paused several times during his speech, at one point saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, if you could please direct your attention again to the podium”.
Before administering the oath of office to the armed forces graduates, he said they would “protect the freedoms we so cherish,” including the “right to peacefully protest.”
The university allowed protesters to set up an encampment on campus, but police helped disperse a large gathering at a graduation event Friday evening. One person was arrested.
More than 2,400 arrests
The University of Michigan was among institutions preparing for protests during commencement ceremonies this weekend, including Indiana University, Ohio State University and Northeastern University in Boston. Many more are planned in the coming weeks.
At Indiana University, protesters urged supporters to wear their kaffiyehs and leave during President Pamela Whitten’s speech Saturday evening. The Bloomington, Indiana, campus has designated a protest zone outside Memorial Stadium, where the ceremony is to take place.
Encampments of protesters calling on universities to 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 an unprecedented student movement during this century. Some institutions have reached agreements with protesters to end the protests and reduce the risk of disruption to final exams.
Many encampments have been dismantled and hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested in recent days. The Associated Press (AP) has counted at least 61 incidents in which arrests took place during protests on campuses across the country. More than 2,400 people were arrested on 47 different campuses. The figures are based on AP reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement.
“Solidarity fasts”
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 Saturday that the protest began Friday morning and participants are consuming only water.
He maintained that this hunger strike will continue until university administrators meet with students about their demands, which include stopping criminal and disciplinary charges against protesters.
Other protesters are participating in “solidarity fasts” lasting 24 hours, he said.
Princeton students set up a protest encampment and some staged an occupation at an administration building this week, leading to around 15 arrests.
Separately, police dispersed a demonstration at the University of Virginia on Saturday, calling it an “unlawful assembly” in a message posted on the X platform.
Authorities did not say how many people were arrested.
Meanwhile, near Boston, students at Tufts University peacefully destroyed their protest encampment without police intervention on Friday evening. Protest organizers said in a statement that they were “deeply angry and disappointed” over 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 around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 others hostage.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of whom were women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. Israeli strikes have forced the displacement of most Gaza residents.