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 just behind the ceremonial stage.
During Chancellor Carol Christ’s welcome address, a few 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 stopped the speeches, asking the students to stop or they would be asked to leave. 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.
Wearing keffiyehs and graduation caps emblazoned with “Viva Palestina,” nearly 50 students left the stands to walk to the top of Memorial Stadium, appearing for a moment as if they might leave. But then the group turned and walked to a section just beside the stage.
Within the next 20 minutes, they were joined by hundreds of their classmates, who stood on the metal bleachers, stomping and leading rallying cries of “Free, free Palestine.”
Security staff gathered near the protesters, but did not appear to be asking 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.
This is a developing story. Come back for updates.