PProtesters chanted anti-war messages and waved Palestinian flags during the University of Michigan’s graduation on Saturday, as student demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war clashed with the annual pomp and circumstance of graduation ceremonies.
No arrests were reported and the protest — made up of about 50 people, many of them wearing traditional Arabic kaffiyeh along with their graduation caps — did not seriously disrupt the nearly two-hour event at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, which was attended of tens of thousands of people. of people.
A protest banner read: “There are no universities left in Gaza.”
U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro paused a few times during his remarks, saying at one point, “Ladies and gentlemen, if you would, please turn your attention to the podium.”
In swearing in armed forces graduates, Del Toro said they would “protect the freedoms we hold dear,” including the “right to peacefully protest.”
The university allowed protesters to set up a camp on campus, but police helped disperse a large gathering on Friday night and one person was arrested.
Tent camps of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies that say they support the war in Gaza have spread to campuses across the country in recent weeks in a student movement unlike any other this century. Some schools reached agreements with protesters to end demonstrations and reduce the possibility of disrupting final exams and graduations.
Some camps were dismantled and protesters arrested in police repressions.
The Associated Press has recorded at least 61 incidents since April 18 where arrests were made at protests on campuses across the US. More than 2,400 people were arrested on 47 college and university campuses. The numbers are based on AP reports and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies.
In other developments on Saturday, protesters tore down a camp at Tufts University near Boston.
The school in Medford, Massachusetts, said it was pleased with the development, which was not the result of any agreement with protesters. Protest organizers said in a statement they were “deeply angered and disappointed” by the failure of negotiations with the university.
At Princeton, New Jersey, 18 students launched a hunger strike in an effort to pressure the university to divest from companies linked to Israel.
Senior David Chmielewski, on hunger strike, said via email Saturday that it all started Friday morning with participants consuming only water. He said the hunger strike will continue until university administrators meet with students about their demands, which include amnesty from criminal and disciplinary charges for protesters.
Other protesters are participating in “solidarity fasts” that last 24 hours, he said.
Princeton students set up a protest camp and some held a sit-in at an administrative building earlier this week, resulting in about 15 arrests.
Students at other colleges, including Brown and Yale, launched similar hunger strikes earlier this year, before the most recent wave of protest camps.
The protests stem from the Israel-Hamas conflict that began on October 7, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking around 250 hostages.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli attacks devastated the enclave and displaced most of Gaza’s inhabitants.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
