Minneapolis, MN – In the evening of September 5, 100 students, staff, faculty and community members, led by the University of Minnesota chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, gathered at McNamara plaza to demand the University of Minnesota divest from Israel and all entities complicit in war crimes and human rights violations.

Although this is the first week of school, the UMN board of regents has already passed a resolution making the university endowment “politically neutral” in a bid to avoid accountability for their actions. Along with this resolution, new UMN President Rebbecca Cunningham introduced new protest policies which severely limit free speech on campus.

As students return to campus, protests and political repression will continue. But as Fae Hodges, a junior and member of SDS, said in their speech, “We will not be told when, where, and how we can speak on our own campus, especially when all we are saying is to stop funding genocide.”

After chanting, calls for divestment, and a speech from Dr. Sima Shakhsari of Educators for Justice in Palestine, the crowd marched from the board of regents meeting space and down Washington Avenue toward Morrill Hall, the building which houses the president's office.

Once at Morrill Hall, people laid down on bloodied sheets in silence, holding a die-in to represent the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have died in the last 11 months and the blood on the hand of the UMN’s administrators for their continuation of the funding of this genocide.

The protest ended with speeches from AFSCME 3800, Students for Justice in Palestine, and chants calling for the divestment from Israel and for victory to Palestine.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #SDS #AFSCME #SJP #Feature