A crowd of over 400 gathered Wednesday evening at Saint Louis University for a peaceful protest in solidarity with Palestine. Encampments and protests across the country have been met with police crackdowns and brutalization, like Washington University’s controversial response to a protest on its campus Saturday which resulted in the arrests of over 100 people.
SLU DPS and police made no arrests during the nearly three-hour protest, barring two detainments made at the end of the event from a personal conflict.
Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier said she worked with SLU President Fred Pestello to ensure the event did not escalate.
In a letter before the protest, Pestello promised SLU would “meet peace with peace” so students could “engage in advocacy” without disrupting SLU’s operations.
The Occupy SLU Coalition, the student group who organized the protest, instructed attendees to not physically engage with authorities or disruptors.
A handful of counter protesters were in attendance, holding Israeli and American flags. They were ignored by the crowd and dissipated throughout the protest.
Police kept their distance from the event, and spontaneously shut down Grand between Lindell and Laclede to allow protestors to safely sit on the street for a teach-in and chants.
One of the primary goals of the protest was demanding SLU administration call for a ceasefire.
“There are lots of folks who are very quiet, including our university. [SLU] has not called for a ceasefire, despite other institutions having the courage to do it,” said Marquis Govan, a core member of the coalition and social work undergraduate at SLU.
Students also called for a divestment from Boeing Co., a notable weapons manufacturer of the bombs being dropped on Palestine.
“As a Palestinian Gazan student, how am I supposed to feel safe at an institution who invested in and profited off the murder of my family?” said Intimaa AbuHelou, a public health master’s student at SLU who lost members of her family to an Israeli missile strike in early January.
This protest was also in solidarity with those who attended Washington University’s attempted encampment last Saturday. It culminated when Southern Illinois University Edwardsville history professor Steve Tamari was tackled by police which left him with a broken hand and multiple broken ribs.
SLU’s protest concluded around 8:50 p.m. as the crowd split naturally.
