St. Paul, MN – On February 27, over 100 students rallied on Macalester College campus, followed by a march to the high-traffic intersection of Snelling and Summit Avenues, to demand that Saint Paul city council take a stand and pass a ceasefire resolution.

At the intersection the students chanted, “City council you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!” at rush hour traffic, with a dozen supporters who joined off the street.

Minneapolis, Saint Paul’s neighboring city, passed one of the most progressive ceasefire resolutions in the country on February 8, calling for an end to U.S. aid to Israel. Despite this, Saint Paul city council has shown considerable resistance to even introducing a ceasefire resolution, which has already been written by a coalition of local organizations, to be voted on.

Despite the hundreds of calls from supporters of a ceasefire resolution and Palestine activists packing the city council meetings for weeks, so far only city council member Nelsie Yang has agreed to introduce and support a ceasefire resolution.

The protest was led by a coalition of student activist groups from across the local colleges and universities, including Mac for Palestine, St Kate’s Student’s for Justice in Palestine (SJP), University of Minnesota SDS and SJP, as well as students from Hamline University and Augsburg College.

A senior at Macalester college and a member of Mac for Palestine, spoke to the crowd, saying “If we cannot convince those who hold positions of power to act on their humanity alone, we must wield our collective power as students to act as an organized front against institutional complicity in genocide.”

Mac for Palestine’s main focus currently is pushing Saint Paul city council for a ceasefire resolution, having marched students to join Women Against Military Madness’ weekly rallies for Palestine every Friday for the past several months.

Emily Chu of UMN SDS, stated “It is our moral obligation to resist the imperialist, war-mongering machinations of our government and say no more to the genocide that has taken the lives of over 30,000 Palestinians.”

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