‘Officials say some protesters charged at officers and one was arrested after attempting to strike an officer’
Pomona College officials had already relocated their graduation ceremony from the main campus to the Shrine Auditorium because pro-Palestinian protesters camped out on the Los Angeles-based school’s main stage refused to leave.
After the new location was announced, the anti-Israel activists hunted the ceremony down to the Shrine, prompting a clash with police on Sunday. The activists refused to disperse despite several requests from police to do so.
ABC 7 reported:
Officials say some protesters charged at officers and one was arrested after attempting to strike an officer.
Chants of “From the river to the sea” were heard in the crowd, a controversial slogan which some say is just a cry for Palestinian freedom but in other interpretations is seen as an antisemitic call for the destruction of Israel.
Some protesters were also attempting to block entrance to the auditorium, police say.
The LAPD declared an unlawful assembly and started moving the crowd back. Calm seemed to return after the show of force by officers, who were lined up in riot gear on 32nd Street and were blocking off access near the auditorium.
As the Claremont Independent student newspaper reported, the ceremony “usually takes place on Marston Quad, but protesters calling for divestment from Israel have occupied the stage since Monday.”
Social media posts galvanized pro-Palestinian protesters to storm the Shrine.
“In an attempt to avoid accountability to their students call for divestment from the zionist state, Pomona college has moved their commencement ceremony to the Shrine Auditorium. Let’s show Gabi Starr, Carol Folt, Gene Block, and countless other violent administrators that we will not let them avoid Palestine as long as they aid and abet genocide! No graduation as usual. Anywhere,” Students for Justice in Palestine posted on Instagram.
This protest was one of several that took place over the weekend at college campuses.
At Duke University on Sunday, several dozen students walked out on comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who is Jewish and has been openly supporting Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of 1,200 civilians.
“Duke’s graduation ceremony was one of several occurring over the weekend that saw moments of pro-Palestinian protest, with others occurring at Virginia Commonwealth University, U.C. Berkeley and Boston’s Emerson College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison,” Axios reported.
MORE: Pro-Palestinian students walk out on Seinfeld commencement speech at Duke
IMAGE: ABC news screenshot
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