When pro-Palestinian protesters arrange an encampment final week on the stage at Pomona School the place commencement was set to be held, the college’s leaders determined to maneuver Sunday’s graduation to Los Angeles.
The commencement came about on the Shrine Auditorium, kicking off at 6 p.m. However protesters additionally moved. A gaggle of greater than 100 congregated outdoors the auditorium Sunday afternoon and clashed with legislation enforcement. L.A. police mentioned protesters charged them, and one demonstrator mentioned officers struck individuals within the abdomen with batons.
The faculty had mentioned there could be further safety measures on the occasion, and dozens of Los Angeles Police Division officers had been current. Officers lined up outdoors the venue as protesters held up banners and shouted by means of bullhorns.
A number of Pomona School graduates, wearing full regalia, led the gang in chanting, “Free Palestine.”
At occasions, the demonstrators pushed and shoved with police as officers tried to safe the realm across the auditorium. Officers advised KABC-7 that some protesters charged at officers and one was arrested after trying to strike an officer.
Later, about 6:30 p.m., the protesters marched away from the Shrine Auditorium and gathered in a courtyard the place a Pomona School scholar, carrying his commencement robe, learn a press release calling for an finish to the struggle and for universities to divest from monetary ties with Israel.
Tharwa Khalid, a member of a neighborhood chapter of the Palestinian Youth Motion, mentioned the protesters began on West thirty second Avenue and break up into two teams, one on thirty second Avenue and one other close to Jefferson Boulevard.
The dynamic with police escalated from “zero to 100 with no warning,” she mentioned.
Officers shoved Khalid and a number of other others, pushing some individuals to the bottom and placing them with batons, together with hitting a number of feminine protesters within the abdomen, Khalid mentioned.
“A lot of my friends are bruised up right now and are not doing well physically,” Khalid mentioned.
As officers pushed one Muslim protester to the bottom, they pulled off her scarf, Khalid mentioned.
Khalid mentioned she noticed a authorized observer with the Nationwide Legal professionals Guild — carrying a neon inexperienced hat to be simply seen observing police exercise — shoved to the bottom by an officer.
“It just shows that they’re trying to intimidate students and punish them for exercising their 1st Amendment rights,” Khalid mentioned.
Amongst protesters Sunday outdoors the Shrine Auditorium had been these of their Pomona School caps and robes from commencement.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
By almost 7 p.m., many of the pro-Palestinian protesters had dispersed from the campus courtyard, and police had cordoned off an space surrounding the Shrine Auditorium.
A number of members of the family of graduates arrived late to the ceremony with flowers in hand however had been briefly turned away from the police-tape line. An officer stepped in, nevertheless, and allowed them by means of so they may attend the commencement.
LAPD Officer Tony Im, a public info officer, mentioned he couldn’t present a press release or response Sunday night relating to what protesters alleged occurred as a result of he had not been briefed.
Pomona School’s determination to maneuver its graduation got here after a call by USC to cancel its conventional most important campus graduation ceremony and maintain another celebration on the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The occasion Thursday featured fireworks and a drone present.
As at USC, pro-Palestinian protests have roiled the Pomona campus, with scholar activists demanding that the faculty publicly name for a cease-fire and divest school endowment funds from companies tied to Israel’s struggle towards Hamas within the Gaza Strip and the occupation of the West Financial institution. In April, police carrying riot gear arrested 19 protesters who had occupied the faculty president’s workplace.
Additionally on Sunday, about 30 college students graduating from Harvey Mudd School, a non-public liberal arts school in Claremont, wore messages on their mortarboards studying “Cut defense ties,” referencing a requirement for divestment from protection contracts that’s additionally been made at different schools and universities, mentioned a school member who requested to not be named over privateness issues.
Some college students took out small Palestinian flags as they walked throughout the stage after their names had been referred to as and posed with the flags of their images with Mudd School President Harriet B. Nembhard, the college member advised The Occasions. Different college students pulled out banners, studying “Free Palestine” and “No tech for genocide.”
Saachi Patel, a scholar speaker graduating Sunday, mentioned throughout her speech that her commencement and diploma may solely imply a lot to her given the tens of 1000’s of Palestinians, largely ladies and youngsters, killed by Israel’s bombardment and floor offensives, and the way her faculty had not but divested.
“Today I think of the student-led global uprisings and resistance that have been demanding colleges divest from apartheid and occupation and cut ties with war-profiteering companies,” Patel mentioned, saying she stood with the Mudders Towards Homicide marketing campaign, which earlier this yr circulated a petition demanding the college divest.
Her microphone was not lower, and he or she was allowed to complete her speech. A number of graduates gave her a standing ovation, and a few households cheered, the college member mentioned.
Occasions workers author Jenny Gold contributed to this report.
