Dozens of graduates of George Washington University on Sunday walked out of commencement ceremonies, disrupting university President Ellen Granberg’s speech, in protest over the war in Gaza and last week’s clearing of an on-campus protest encampment that involved police use of pepper spray and dozens of arrests, The Associated Press reported.
The ceremony, at the base of the Washington Monument, started peacefully with fewer than 100 protestors demonstrating across the street in front of the Museum of African American History and Culture.
However, as Granberg began speaking, at least 70 students among the graduates started chanting and raising signs and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags. The students then noisily walked out as Granberg spoke, crossing the street to a rapturous response from the protesters, according to AP.
In video shared to social media, some protesters could be heard chanting in Arabic: “From the water to the water, Palestine is Arab.” Some also chanted “there is only one solution, intifada revolution.”
The protesters could be seen holding signs reading “your tuition funds genocide,” “divest now,” with many of them sporting keffiyehs, according to National Review.
George Washington University is among many universities in the United States which has seen anti-Israel protests and encampments in recent weeks.
A protester participating in an anti-Israel demonstration at George Washington University in late April was photographed holding a sign reading "Final Solution," the name of the Nazi's plan to exterminate the Jews.
Earlier this month, anti-Israel protesters at the university called for the “guillotine” to be used on Granberg and other school administrators during a mock tribunal.
Some of the anti-Israel encampments at universities have been taken down by police officers, while others have been cleared voluntarily following agreements with the administrations.
Last Tuesday, anti-Israel protesters were voluntarily taking down their tents in Harvard Yard, after university officials agreed to discuss their questions about the endowment.
Previously, LAPD and California Highway Patrol cleared an anti-Israel protest encampment on the UCLA campus, arresting 132 people.
Later, the Los Angeles Police Department removed a pro-Palestinian Arab encampment at the University of Southern California, pushing several dozen people out of the campus gates.
In another incident, police in riot gear cleared an anti-Israel encampment at the University of Chicago.
At Cornell University, meanwhile, the student encampment disbanded peacefully, with neither arrests being made nor a deal being reached with management.