Students at the University of Michigan’s graduation protested against war and showed support for Palestine by waving their flags. This clashed with the usual celebrations of graduation.
The protest took place at the start of the event at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. About 75 people, some wearing traditional Arabic headscarves, along with their graduation hats, walked towards the stage for graduation.
They shouted “Regents, regents, you can’t hide. You are funding genocide. ” while holding signs, including one that said “No universities left in Gaza. ”
In the sky, planes flew with advertising banners. One sign says “Stop supporting Israel now. Let Palestine be free. ” The other sign says “We support Israel. ” Jewish lives are important.
No one got arrested, and the protest didn’t cause any big problems during the two-hour event. Many people came to the event, some of them were waving Israeli flags.
The police stopped the protesters from getting to the stage, and a university spokesperson said that security officers took the protesters to the back of the stadium. They stayed there until the event was over.
“Peaceful protests have been happening at U-M graduation ceremonies for many years,” she said.
US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro stopped talking a few times. He asked the audience to look at him.
Before he gave a promise to graduates in the military, Del Toro said they would keep the rights we value, like the right to protest peacefully.
The university said it’s okay for protesters to camp out on the campus. But the police helped to stop a big group of people at a graduation event on Friday night, and one person got arrested.
Michigan, Indiana University, Ohio State University, and Northeastern University in Boston were getting ready for protests at their graduation ceremonies this weekend. Many more are scheduled to happen in the next few weeks.
At Indiana University, people were telling others to wear their keffiyehs and leave while President Pamela Whitten was speaking on Saturday night. The college in Bloomington, Indiana, has picked a special area outside Memorial Stadium where people can protest during the ceremony.
Protesters are setting up tents on college campuses to ask universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support the war in Gaza. This is a big student movement happening on campuses all over the country. Some schools have made deals with the protesters to stop the demonstrations and lower the chance of causing problems for final exams and graduations.
Police have taken down many encampments and arrested protesters.
The Associated Press says that at least 61 times since April 18, people have been arrested at protests on college campuses in the US. In total, more than 2,400 people have been arrested at 47 different campuses. The numbers come from information given by the Associated Press and from what universities and police have said.
18 students at Princeton University in New Jersey decided not to eat in order to try to get the university to stop investing in companies connected to Israel.
David Chmielewski, a high school student, who is not eating to protest, said in an email on Saturday that the protest started on Friday morning with people only drinking water.
He said the hunger strike will keep going until university leaders talk to students about their demands. They want to be forgiven for any crimes and punishments for protesting.
Other protestors are joining in “solidarity fasts” that go on for 24 hours, he said.
Princeton students started a protest and some stayed in a building, which led to about 15 people getting arrested.
Students at Brown and Yale, and other colleges, also went on hunger strikes earlier this year before the recent wave of protest camps.
On Saturday, the police stopped a protest at the University of Virginia. The campus police said it was a “illegal gathering” on a social media site.
Video from WVAW-TV showed police in special gear taking protesters out of a camp at the Charlottesville campus. The police have not said how many people were taken into custody.
In Boston, students at Tufts University peacefully removed their protest camp without any help from the police on Friday night.
People from the school in Medford, Massachusetts, said they were happy with the progress, which didn’t happen because of any deal with the protestors. The people who organized the protest are really upset that talks with the university didn’t work out.
The protests are happening because of a fight between Israel and Hamas. It all started on October 7 when Hamas fighters attacked the south of Israel. They killed around 1,200 people, most of them were not soldiers, and also took about 250 people as hostages.
Israel started a big attack in Gaza to wipe out Hamas. This attack has killed over 34,500 Palestinians, and most of them are women and children. The information comes from the Health Ministry in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas. Israeli attacks have caused a lot of damage and forced many people in Gaza to leave their homes.
Date:
University of Michigan agitated by anti-war protests as graduation coincides with rallies
