NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A protest at the Yale Bowl on Saturday broke into a football game.
Harvard and Yale’s competing colors of blue and crimson yielded to a united black, red, white, and green displayed by students of both schools at the 139th playing of The Game.
Near the northwest endzone on the Yale side of the stadium, demonstrators chanted “Ceasefire Now” as they waved Palestinian flags and held up banners reading “Free Palestine” and “End the Occupation.” This demonstration, which began in the third quarter, ended long before the fourth quarter began.
Smaller protests engulfed other parts of the stadium.
Near the southwest endzone on the Harvard side of the field, a group waved scores of small Palestinian flags. Higher up in the Yale Bowl, another group waved much larger Palestinian flags — and later moved nearer to the field, where they impeded the view of some fans. Many Ivy League students wore the familiar black-and-white keffiyehs, presumably in solidarity with the Palestinians and not out of cultural appropriation.
One lone counter-protester on the Yale side of the field, perhaps anticipating the demonstration, unfurled an Israeli flag and held it aloft.
