Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

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By Eduardo Montiel

May Day celebration in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Grand Rapids, MI – Spirits were high on Tuesday, April 30, as attendees celebrated International Workers Day with food, music and discussion. The Freedom Road Socialist Organization held a potluck to commemorate the Haymarket Affair, support Palestine and talk about the conditions and political situation around the country.

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By Sam Tunningley

A pro-Palestine march with people holding signs and a banner.

Grand Rapids, MI – A International Women’s Day rally and march to celebrate the resistance of Palestinian women was held this past Sunday, March 10, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The event began at Rosa Parks Circle and finished with a 40-minute march through the entire downtown area.

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By Owen Frassetto

The banners of Grand Valley State University Students for Justice in Palestine, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and GVSU Students for a Democratic Society lead the front of march in Grand Rapids. | Fight Back! News/staff

Grand Rapids, Michigan – . A coalition of local organizations in Grand Rapids held a rally this past Sunday, January 7, in response to the call for a national week of action to stand with Palestine. Around 200 people attended the rally and went on to march through downtown.

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By Sam Tunningley

Group of protesters gather around a speaker talking on a mic.

Grand Rapids, MI – On December 12, a second vigil for the martyrs of Palestine was held in front of Grand Rapids City Hall before the final Grand Rapids City Commissioners meeting of the year, where a number of speakers urged the city again to take action on a list of pro Palestine demands.

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By Owen Frassetto

Hundreds rally for Palestine in Grand Rapids, Michigan, returning to the streets in mass for the second time in two weeks. | Fight Back! News/staff

Grand Rapids, Michigan – Over 300 people rallied on Saturday, October 28 to demand an end to the genocide in the Gaza Strip, and that the United States ends its military aid for Israel.

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By staff

Group of activists march with signs and Palestinian flags on a sidewalk

Grand Rapids, MI – Hundreds gathered in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan on October 15 in the afternoon to support the Palestinian resistance against Israeli apartheid. They joined a worldwide solidarity movement in response to the Israeli government's retaliation against the Palestinian resistance launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

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By staff

Grand Rapids, MI – On Thursday, September 28, the IASTE Local 26 West Michigan Stagehands Union hosted a speaking event featuring two Tampa 5 protestors in a show of solidarity. The speakers, Lauren Pineiro and Chrisley Carpio, are in the midst of a countrywide tour, spreading the word about their struggle against political repression by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' administration. IATSE Local 26 hosted the event to help mobilize labor activists to rally support for dropping the charges against the Tampa 5.

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By Kellan Martin

Grand Rapids, MI – Alyssa Bates, known as Aly Thee Activist on social media, led a powerful event that lifted the voices of survivors of domestic abuse at Rosa Parks Circle in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The event, titled Survivors Against Domestic Violence, was on Sunday, September 24.

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By J. Cortez

Protest demands justice for Patrick Lyoya.

Grand Rapids, MI – On the morning of Wednesday, September 6, cries demanding justice for the murder of Patrick Lyoya resounded from the steps of the State of Michigan Building. There, a three judge Court of Appeals hearing for the ex-police officer, Christopher Schurr, was taking place. Schurr killed the 26-year-old Congolese immigrant Lyoya with a point blank shot to the back of the head during a traffic stop in April of 2022.

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By Sam Tunningley

Robert Womack and Reginald James demonstrate how Patrick Lyoya was murdered in A

Grand Rapids, MI – The calls for conviction of Christopher Schurr, the cop who murdered 26-year-old Congolese immigrant Patrick Lyoya, were heard in the streets of Grand Rapids on Thursday, August 31, during a rally of 70 people demanding justice ahead of Schurr’s Court of Appeals date next week. This is the first of two events planned – the second will be to pack the court next week for Schurr’s hearing.

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