When pro-Palestinian protesters arrange an encampment final week on the stage at Pomona Faculty the place commencement was set to be held, the varsity’s leaders determined to maneuver Sunday’s graduation to Los Angeles.
The commencement happened on the Shrine Auditorium, kicking off at 6 p.m. However protesters additionally moved. A gaggle of greater than 100 congregated exterior the auditorium Sunday afternoon and clashed with legislation enforcement. L.A. police mentioned protesters charged them, and one demonstrator mentioned officers struck folks within the abdomen with batons.
The faculty had mentioned there can be further safety measures on the occasion, and dozens of Los Angeles Police Division officers had been current. Officers lined up exterior the venue as protesters held up banners and shouted via bullhorns.
A number of Pomona Faculty graduates, wearing full regalia, led the group in chanting, “Free Palestine.”
At occasions, the demonstrators pushed and shoved with police as officers tried to safe the world across the auditorium. Officers instructed 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 Faculty pupil, sporting his commencement robe, learn an announcement calling for an finish to the conflict 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 folks to the bottom and hanging them with batons, together with hitting a number of feminine protesters within the abdomen, Khalid mentioned.
“Lots of my buddies are bruised up proper now and aren’t doing nicely bodily,” Khalid mentioned.
As officers pushed one Muslim protester to the bottom, they pulled off her headband, Khalid mentioned.
Khalid mentioned she noticed a authorized observer with the Nationwide Legal professionals Guild — sporting a neon inexperienced hat to be simply seen observing police exercise — shoved to the bottom by an officer.
“It simply exhibits that they’re making an attempt to intimidate college students and punish them for exercising their 1st Modification rights,” Khalid mentioned.
Amongst protesters Sunday exterior the Shrine Auditorium had been these of their Pomona Faculty 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.
Just a few 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, nonetheless, and allowed them via so they may attend the commencement.
LAPD Officer Tony Im, a public data officer, mentioned he couldn’t present an announcement or response Sunday night concerning what protesters alleged occurred as a result of he had not been briefed.
Pomona Faculty’s determination to maneuver its graduation got here after a choice by USC to cancel its conventional predominant campus graduation ceremony and maintain an different 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 pupil activists demanding that the faculty publicly name for a cease-fire and divest school endowment funds from firms tied to Israel’s conflict in opposition to Hamas within the Gaza Strip and the occupation of the West Financial institution. In April, police sporting riot gear arrested 19 protesters who had occupied the faculty president’s workplace.
Occasions employees author Jenny Gold contributed to this report.
