UC Berkeley’s graduation on Saturday was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters’ chants, which began with a small group rising in the bleachers in the student section and ended with hundreds of students occupying an entire section of bleachers at Memorial Stadium.
During Chancellor Carol Christ’s welcome address, a few dozen protesters stood up in the student section, waving Palestinian flags and leading chants of “Hey Hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go.”
UC Berkeley officials on stage paused the speeches, warning protesters that they would be asked to leave if they did not stop. Christ was able to continue with her comments but the student speaker who was next, Sydney Roberts, had to stop talking halfway through her speech.
“It wouldn’t be a Berkeley graduation without a protest, I get it,” Roberts said, returning to the podium.
As the program continued, nearly 50 students left the stands to walk to the top of Memorial Stadium. For a moment, it appeared as if they might leave — but then the group turned and started to file into a section of the bleachers just behind the stage.
Within the next 20 minutes, they were joined by hundreds of their classmates, some wearing keffiyehs and graduation caps emblazoned with “Viva Palestina.” They stood on the metal bleachers, stomping and leading rallying cries of “Free, free Palestine.”
Security staff hovered near the protesters, but did not appear to ask them to leave.
As protesters walked down the aisles past the crowds, they were met with some jeers from audience members.
“Go back to Gaza,” yelled one man at a protester donning a keffiyeh.
“I am from Gaza,” she responded.
“You’re ruing it for everyone,” another man shouted after the group.
To the backdrop of chants and stomping, graduation program continued as planned. The 6,700 students graduating this year did not walk across the stage, as they often have in past years.
After the ceremony ended, families and students leaving the graduation walked out the stadium to a wall of more protesters — community members mixing with recent graduates, who hoisted signs demanding that the University of California divest from companies doing business with Israel.
“People are our here celebrating this great achievement of theirs, but meanwhile, people are dying,” protester and Class of 2024 graduate Rebekah Joy told this news organization. “How could I not be here?”
Israel’s military operation in Gaza has killed almost 35,000 Palestinians.
On Friday, protests also took place at UC Berkeley’s law school commencement ceremony, when a group of students took off their graduation gowns to unveil white shirts underneath spelling out “UC Divest.”
Student demonstrators have set up dozens of tents on the steps of UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza, with the encampment growing significantly since it was established in mid-April. Students say that they will continue to occupy the plaza until the University of California system divests from companies supplying arms to Israel. UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof has said there are no plans to change the university’s investment policies.
This is a developing story. Come back for updates.
