Austin, TX – Joe Biden was set to speak at the University of Texas at Austin on Monday, July 16, and the Austin community was prepared to greet him with a massive protest to demand that he stop funding the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Biden cancelled his trip at the last minute, but around 70 people still gathered outside the Texas Capitol Monday evening, to show Biden that the people will not stand for the killings of Palestinians in Al-Mawasi, or for any part of the U.S. backed genocide in Gaza.

People young and old came out in the brutal heat to say, “Hands off Gaza,” “Hands off Khan Younis” and “Stop arming Israel!” Student speakers also highlighted calls for the University of Texas system to divest from the genocide.

Mia Cisco of Students for a Democratic Society spoke to these demands. “It is clear that this is a genocide,” she said. “Yet when students decided to protest the University of Texas for being complicit in this genocide, demanding that they divest from their shares in defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Corporation, UTPD violently arrested dozens of us. Over 40 of us are now facing academic sanctions including suspension.”

After booming calls of “Shame!” echoed through the crowd, Cisco continued. “The University of Texas is trying to scare us student protesters into submission. To this we say, we will look to the liberators of the past to guide us to the future. If fighting for liberation is pointless, South African apartheid would have never ended. Segregation would have never ended. The Vietnam war would have never ended!”

Cisco concluded, “Divestment is not only possible, but it’s inevitable! It is important now more than ever to remain committed to the fight and stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine. UT, Texas, you may try to silence us with your physical and political violence. But we stand united with the students and the people of Palestine to say, disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest!”

The crowd immediately erupted in chants after the speech. At the close of the rally, a few young children and toddlers came up to the microphone to lead the crowd in one final round of “Free, free Palestine” chants.

Organizers from the Austin for Palestine Coalition, who called the rally, pledged to keep up the fight and will protest Biden’s rescheduled visit later this month.

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