Activists demanding an immediate cease fire in Gaza brought the Evanston City Council’s business to a halt for nearly a half hour Monday night after dominating more than an hour of public comment earlier in the meeting.
The council had no item regarding Palestine on its agenda, and a move by Ald. Devon Reid (8th) to mollify the protesters by calling for a doubling of the city’s $50,000 budget for refugee resettlement programs failed for lack of a second.
While some of the demonstrators claimed to be Evanston residents, others appeared to be activists from across the metro area aligned with the U.S. Palestinian Community Network — which posted a video of the protest to its Instagram feed — and from a group called the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
The demonstration brought a large police presence to the council chambers and eventually police persuaded the demonstrators to peacefully leave the building.
The protesters in part were objecting to a decision by the city’s Law Department late last month that the city’s Equity and Empowerment Commission had no jurisdiction to consider a resolution calling for a cease fire.
I am glad to hear that city council did not reward the protesters with spending more money for something they would want, even if was a very small amount. Doing that would only encourage more distruptive protests in the future.
My concern is such protests take up valuable City Council time which might be better spent on local issues.
You can thank the Equity and Empowerment Commission for bringing in this crowd.