University of MN students hold demonstration to honor Palestinians martyred since October 7
Minneapolis, MN – Over 500 University of Minnesota community members gathered on the Northrop Mall and inside of Morrill Hall over the course of two days for a public reading of the known names of thousands of Palestinian civilians killed during the ongoing genocide in Gaza since October 7.
The event, which was initiated by an unnamed group of students, began on Tuesday, November 7 with the placement of hundreds of small flags with names written on them to create an image of the Palestinian flag on the lawn. Once the display was completed, students and faculty took turns reading from a list of the names of thousands of martyrs, along with how old they were when they died, over a loudspeaker, ensuring that all passersby in the area could hear.
Among the many individuals who contributed to the reading, support was offered by members of Students for Justice in Palestine, Students for a Democratic Society, and Young Democratic Socialists of America.
Since the righteous Al-Aqsa Flood operation four weeks before, Zionist Israeli forces have bombed and starved the people of Palestine without reprieve, resulting in the deaths of over 10,000 people in Gaza; half were children. Of the 10,000, so far 6747 names have been publicly released. Even with only these two thirds of the names of martyrs, the organizers ended up having to return on November 8 for a second full day of reading.
In the end, it took around 12 hours between two days to read out all of the dozens of pages to remember the lives recently lost to racist genocide. The commitment and participation of everyone involved in this event further demonstrates that University of Minnesota administration, which has gone out of their way to condemn the Palestinian liberation movement, do not represent the campus community that is determined to see a free Palestine within our lifetimes.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!