Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police, Freedom Road Socialist Organization-New Orleans, Tulane & Loyola Students for a Democratic Society, and New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports.

New Orleans, LA – March 16, around 12:30 p.m., at a protest against Tulane’s aid to Israel, local activist Toni Jones was arrested for standing in solidarity with Palestine.

Jones, 28, is a lead organizer in New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police, and a Black transgender woman. She faces trumped up charges of battery, obstructing a public place, interfering with a lawful investigation, and resisting/obstructing an officer.

Her only crime is loving the Palestinian people. She was attending a protest that called for Tulane University to denounce professor and board member Walter Isaacson, who assaulted a protester earlier this week. The protest also called for Tulane to end all aid to Israel. Organizers of the protest included Tulane Students for a Democratic Society and New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports (NOSHIP).

The real criminals are Walter Isaacson, Tulane University, and the Israeli state. On March 13, Isaacson battered Rory Macdonald, a transgender activist who spoke out against New Orleans Entrepreneur Week’s complicity in Israel’s genocide. Alongside its aid to Israeli apartheid, Tulane has a history of repressing Black activists, including students who protested TUPD during the George Floyd Rebellion in 2020. Israel is committing a genocide against the people of Gaza, and resisting all lawful attempts to stop its war crimes.

Toni Jones must be immediately released and all charges against her must be dropped. Tulane University must denounce Walter Isaacson and cut all ties with Israel.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #InJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #NOSHIP #NOCOP #FRSO #FRSONO #SDS #TulaneSDS #LoyNoSDS #Feature