AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Around 500 pro-Palestine students have walked out of the commencement ceremony at Stanford University over the ongoing Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The protesting students were seen wearing keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags as they walked out during Stanford President Richard Saller's speech at the American university's official commencement ceremony on Sunday.
One student was seen holding up a sign reading, "Free Palestine. Stanford Divest!"
Some people seated in the stands cheered the students as they left the ceremony.
The students staged the walkout in protest to the university's response to the demands of pro-Palestine demonstrators over the savage Israeli campaign against Gaza.
Stanford students and graduates are demanding the university divest from companies that are providing funds to Israel for the genocidal war on Gaza.
Sunday's walkout followed months of student protests including two encampments and a brief occupation of the office of the university's president.
The ceremony was open to graduates and invited guests; however, security measures were tight and tickets were required to enter the stadium venue while guests and graduates were subject to a clear bag policy.
On Sunday, an activist group called Stanford Against Apartheid in Palestine posted the walkout on Instagram, calling for students to walk out for a "People's Commencement."
It invited graduates, friends and family "to walk out of the commencement into our alternative ceremony next to the stadium, to show support for divestment and honor Palestine this graduation weekend."
The pro-Palestine encampment lasted on campus for more than 100 days and more than a dozen students were eventually arrested during its removal on June 5, after the pro-Palestinian students briefly took over the President office.
Some of these pro-Palestinian students were immediately suspended from the first-rate private university with links to Zionist organizations with tens of millions of dollars at their disposal to actively silent pro-Palestine voices.
Zionist organizations have targeted the anti-Israel protests with an aim to create an atmosphere where free expression and open debate do not exist.
Despite those attempts, activists across campuses stretching from California to New York continue to demand their universities divest from Israeli-linked companies supporting the genocide in Gaza.
The genocidal Israeli campaign in Gaza has continued since October 7.
The regime has killed over 37,300 Palestinians in Gaza since that October day. More than 16,000 of the people are children.
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