Small Anti-war Protest Ruffles University of Michigan Graduation Ceremony

Students protest in support of Palestine during the University of Michigan's Spring Commencement ceremony on May 4, 2024 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Getty Images/AFP)
Students protest in support of Palestine during the University of Michigan's Spring Commencement ceremony on May 4, 2024 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Small Anti-war Protest Ruffles University of Michigan Graduation Ceremony

Students protest in support of Palestine during the University of Michigan's Spring Commencement ceremony on May 4, 2024 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Getty Images/AFP)
Students protest in support of Palestine during the University of Michigan's Spring Commencement ceremony on May 4, 2024 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Getty Images/AFP)

Protesters chanted anti-war messages and waved Palestinian flags during the University of Michigan's commencement Saturday, as student demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war collided with the annual pomp-and-circumstance of graduation ceremonies.

No arrests were reported and the protest — comprised of about 50 people, many wearing traditional Arabic kaffiyeh along with their graduation caps — didn’t seriously interrupt the nearly two-hour event at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, which was attended by tens of thousands of people.

One protest banner read: "No universities left in Gaza."

US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro paused a few times during his remarks, saying at one point, "Ladies and gentlemen, if you can please draw your attention back to the podium."

As he administered an oath to graduates in the armed forces, Del Toro said they would "protect the freedoms that we so cherish," including the "right to protest peacefully."

The university has allowed protesters to set up an encampment on campus, but police assisted in breaking up a large gathering Friday night, and one person was arrested.

Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in recent weeks in a student movement unlike any other this century. Some schools have reached deals with the protesters to end the demonstrations and reduce the possibility of disrupting final exams and commencements.

Some encampments have been dismantled and protesters arrested in police crackdowns.

The Associated Press has recorded at least 61 incidents since April 18 where arrests were made at campus protests across the US. More than 2,400 people have been arrested on 47 college and university campuses. The figures are based on AP reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies.

In other developments Saturday, protesters took down an encampment at Tufts University near Boston.

The school in Medford, Massachusetts, said it was pleased with the development, which wasn’t the result of any agreement with protesters. Protest organizers said in a statement that they were "deeply angered and disappointed" that negotiations with the university had failed.

At Princeton, in New Jersey, 18 students launched a hunger strike in an effort to push the university to divest from companies tied to Israel.

Senior David Chmielewski, a hunger striker, said in an email Saturday that it started Friday morning with participants, including some on "24-hour solidarity fasts," consuming water only. He said the hunger strike will continue until university administrators meet with students about their demands, which include amnesty from criminal and disciplinary charges for protest participants.

Princeton students set up a protest encampment and some held a sit-in an administrative building earlier this week, leading to about 15 arrests.

Students at other colleges, including Brown and Yale, launched similar hunger strikes earlier this year before the more recent wave of protest encampments.

The protests stem from the Israel-Hamas conflict that started on Oct. 7 when Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of Gaza’s inhabitants.



Dutch Tighten Controls on Military and Dual Use Exports to Israel

Containers in the Port of Rotterdam are seen in Rotterdam, Netherlands, November 1, 2022. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo
Containers in the Port of Rotterdam are seen in Rotterdam, Netherlands, November 1, 2022. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo
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Dutch Tighten Controls on Military and Dual Use Exports to Israel

Containers in the Port of Rotterdam are seen in Rotterdam, Netherlands, November 1, 2022. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo
Containers in the Port of Rotterdam are seen in Rotterdam, Netherlands, November 1, 2022. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo

The Dutch government said on Monday it had tightened export controls for all military and 'dual use' goods destined for Israel.

All direct exports and the transit of these goods to Israel will be checked to see if they comply with European regulations, and will no longer be covered by general export licences, the government said in a letter to parliament.

"This is desirable considering the security situation in Israel, the Palestinian territories and the wider region," foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp and trade minister Reinette Klever wrote, Reuters reported.

"Exporters will still be able to request permits, that will then be checked against European regulations."

The government said no military goods for Israel had been exported from the Netherlands under a general permit since Israel started its war in Gaza following the attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

It said that the general licence for the export of "low risk information security goods", such as routers for network security, was frequently used for export to Israel.

It estimated that between 50 and 100 permits for the export of those goods would now have to be requested on an individual basis.

A Dutch court last year ordered the government to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel over concerns they were being used to violate international law during the war in Gaza.