Pro-Palestinian protesters shut down a Spokane City Council meeting Monday over an October resolution in support of Israel and council rules they argue infringe on their First Amendment rights to petition their government.
Even after council members cleared the chambers, with around a half-dozen uniformed officers standing between them and the public, dozens of protesters led by local activist Justice Forral continued to walk up to the dais to speak one-by-one as if the meeting had continued unabated, interspersed with chants of “free, free Palestine” and “City Council, listen to us.”
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Going forward, if the rule is not changed in light of the protest, Forral expected continued disruptions.
“I guess the City Council is no longer going to have meetings,” he said.
This seems like a cut and dry first amendment violation
Definitely, the city can’t shut down dissent like that. I hope the protests continue until they remove the rule.
They could have avoided the whole thing by not issuing a proclamation on behalf of their citizens. By making such a proclamation, they’re inviting a rigorous and public debate on the topic. Especially if there’s controversy… like apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
They could have even done the Weasley politician thing: The city of x believes strongly that people all over the world should live lives in safety, free from terrorism, free from human rights violations. People around the world should not suffer from apartheid, and not worry about being displaced from their homes, and not worry about being killed in their homes. Our hearts go out to the people of Israel who have suffered such an unimaginable terrorist tragedy in the past few weeks, and we hope current events can be resolved and find both equitability and freedom for the people of Israel and Palestine to live in peace going forward.
You know a little bit of appeasement to everybody, nothing really strong either way, not really taking sides, trying to go down the middle. I probably got it wrong here. But I’m not a professional politician
