The wave of anti-Israeli protests on college campuses across the United States continued over the weekend, with two demonstrations briefly interrupting graduation proceedings at the University of Michigan.
Dozens of protesters wearing keffiyehs and graduation caps held up Palestinian flags and marched down the center aisle toward the stage at Michigan Stadium during Saturday morning’s commencement, CBS News reported.
As a speaker invited the crowd to join the school’s “Go Blue” chant, the demonstrators hit back with cries of “Regents, regents, you can’t hide! You are funding genocide,” according to the New York Times.
A plane bearing the messages “Divest from Israel now! Free Palestine!” flew around the stadium, while a counterprotest plane with a banner that read, “We stand with Israel. Jewish lives matter” also passed by, CBS News reported.
“You are ruining our graduation,” one person in the audience was heard retorting as the school police forced the protesters to move to the back of the venue, according to the Times.
Some pro-Israel protesters sitting in private boxes hung Israeli flags from their booths, the outlet said.
The graduation demonstration came the day after a group of protesters walked through the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance commencement ceremony with Palestinian flags and signs that read “UM funds genocide,” according to a video shared by reporter Thad Green.
The disruptors were greeted with a mix of cheers and boos — with at least one person shouting, “Get out, get out,” the video showed.
“The protest lasted a few minutes before police arrived and the protestors left,” Green wrote on X.
One person who was not affiliated with the university was arrested outside the school’s Museum of Art, where a protest gathered near a dinner for honorary degree recipients, the New York Times reported.
The disruptions at the University of Michigan were perhaps a warning sign for other colleges set to graduate students this weekend, the New York Times said.
At Boston’s Northeastern University — where 98 people were recently arrested in connection to campus protests — officials are sticking to strict rules about who can attend the Sunday afternoon ceremony at Fenway Park, the outlet reported.
Many restrictions, however, were already in place before the wave of anti-Israel protests that occupied campuses over the last month.
Ahead of the all-school event, graduates from the university’s College of Arts, Media and Design held up messages that said “NEU funds genocide. Divest Now!” to the camera after they received their diplomas, according to a video from the Quds News Network.
Ohio State University and Indiana University Bloomington are also set to hold there all-school graduation ceremonies this weekend.
Anxieties about potential disruptions at university graduations are running especially high after the University of Southern California canceled its main commencement ceremony due to security concerns.
Confrontations between protesters and law enforcement are on the rise: On Saturday, the anti-Israel encampment at the University of Virginia was raided by state police who were captured on video dragging tents and demonstrators from their spots on the campus lawn.
By around 1 p.m., at least one protester had been arrested, according to journalist and UVA graduate student Olivia Paschal.
“Cops shoving into a line of students and faculty waves of 4 or 5 at a time,” Paschal wrote alongside photos from the scene.
One photo shared by Paschal showed a uniformed officer with what appeared to be a number of zip-ties on-hand.
The police response, however, apparently prompted some onlookers to run and join the protesters, Daily Cavalier news editor Thomas Baxter wrote on X.
