Pro-Palestinian demonstration disrupts University of Michigan graduation

A group of pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan briefly disrupted the spring commencement ceremony on Saturday.

Videos of students wearing caps, dresses and keffiyehs, a symbol of Palestinian nationalism, circulated online during the ceremony in Ann Arbor.

“Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest”, they sang.

“Regents, regents, you cannot hide! You are financing genocide!” they said, according to The New York Times.

One person in the audience could be heard shouting at the protesters: “You are ruining our graduation!”

A plane flew overhead with a message that said “Free Palestine” and “give up Israel now.” Another plane circled the area that said “we are with Israel. Jewish lives matter.”

The Hill reached out to the University of Michigan for comment, but a spokeswoman told the Times that the school has trained volunteers on how to “manage interruptions,” including asking someone to relocate a sign or stop disruptive behavior.

She said the university’s goal is to “support a successful, celebratory event.”

The demonstration follows several weeks of nationwide campus protests by students demanding that their universities divest from Israeli companies and companies that supply weapons to Israel.

The protests have left school administrators struggling to balance First Amendment rights and campus safety. Several protests affected the remaining time of the school year.

Columbia University, where the protests began, moved for the rest of the year to a hybrid learning style, and the University of Southern California canceled its primary graduation ceremony.

Some universities plan to create designated areas for students to protest, in an attempt not to suppress speech but allow the celebration to continue, the Times reported.

Protests on college campuses have been largely peaceful, but came to a head this week after police moved to many campuses to disperse protesters. Pro-Palestine protesters were also faced with a growing number of counter-protesters.