Connect with us

News

'Lot of heartache, pain': Palestinian protesters call for solidarity at DNC march

Published

on

'Lot of heartache, pain': Palestinian protesters call for solidarity at DNC march

As the Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago on Monday, a coalition of nearly 300 organizations came together for the March on the DNC.

“We are here gathered from all of our different communities to call for an end to US aid to Israel,” said Kobi Guillory, coalition co-chair and a middle school science teacher.

Starting at noon, he and dozens of speakers spoke to thousands of protesters at Union Park on Chicago’s Near West Side before marching less than one mile to Park 578, just two blocks from the United Center.

Later that evening, inside the stadium, Democrats kicked off the convention with US President Joe Biden as the featured speaker. “Those protesters out on the street, they have a point; a lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides,” he said.

Advertisement

While the group primarily called for a ceasefire in Gaza, they also stood up for a long list of issues, including abortion, immigration, and worker’s rights.

Protesters hold signs at pro-Palestinian march at the DNC in Chicago, Illinois, US, August 19, 2024. (credit: JULIE MANGURTEN WEINBERG)

“At the end of the day, we have a common oppressor, a common exploiter, that is the United States government that takes our tax money and uses it on police who kill people, on prisons which unjustly incarcerate people and on bombs overseas instead of using them to adequately fund education, health care, housing, and things like that,” said Guillory.

An African-American who grew up in South Africa, he said he’s motivated to support the Palestinian people who stood by him during protests after the killing of George Floyd in 2020.“There were Palestinians on the front lines with us, putting their bodies on the line for us for Black people.”

Advertisement

“I’m here today because my dad immigrated from Palestine; my family had to move in 1948,” said Jousef Shkoukani, a Chicago lawyer who joined the crowd.

“It’s incredibly unfortunate that both DNC and RNC candidates in this 2024 election continuously support Israel’s leadership and their decision for this ongoing genocide, notwithstanding the world calling for a permanent ceasefire,” he said.

Margaret Lau, an Asian-American woman, traveled from west suburban Naperville carrying a poster covered with pictures of wounded children in Gaza.


Stay updated with the latest news!

Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter

Advertisement

“I’m a human being. When I hear about what’s happening to children, to everybody, it’s hard not to stand up to say something when children are maimed, killed, deprived of water,” said the mother of two.

Chicago police at March on DNC, Chicago, Illinois, US, August 19, 2024. (credit: JULIE MANGURTEN WEINBERG)

“If you open the list of deceased people and put in your last name, you’ll find 14 people who have passed. Everyone knows someone,” said one Palestinian woman in the crowd. She declined to share her name, explaining she’d faced harassment after appearing on the cover of the Chicago Tribune while showing support for the Chicago City Council’s ceasefire resolution earlier this year.

Advertisement

“People were calling me a terrorist on Facebook and Linkedin,” she said, “I was anxious because I started thinking about my family and job opportunities.”

Still, she chose to attend Monday’s events. “I needed to be a part of it.”

Acknowledgement of pain on both sides  

“If all of these groups had come together to condemn October 7, we wouldn’t have this war. If one of them called for the release of hostages, we’d be in a very different place,” said Dan Goldwin, Executive Director, Public Affairs, Jewish United Fund, Chicago.

“Between October 7 and now, obviously, there’s been a lot of destruction, a lot of heartache, a lot of pain, I would say disproportionately on the Palestinian side, but it would be unjust to say that there isn’t pain on the Israeli side as well,“ said Shkoukani.

Advertisement

“It’s going to take all of us to come together and try our best to truly try to understand each other more, really hone in on empathy, and really try to figure out how to make things work over there. We’ve got to find a way to have everlasting peace,” Shkoukani added.



News

Video: Another Night of Violent Protests Outside a Newark ICE Detention Center

Published

on

Video: Another Night of Violent Protests Outside a Newark ICE Detention Center

new video loaded: Another Night of Violent Protests Outside a Newark ICE Detention Center

transcript

transcript

Another Night of Violent Protests Outside a Newark ICE Detention Center

Protesters and the police clashed again outside of an ICE detention center in New Jersey on Saturday night.

“Shut down Delaney Hall.” “Shut down Delaney Hall.” “Mikie Sherrill, do better. Mikie Sherrill, do better.”

Advertisement
Protesters and the police clashed again outside of an ICE detention center in New Jersey on Saturday night.

By Cynthia Silva

May 31, 2026

Continue Reading

News

Family visitation partly restored at New Jersey ICE facility after week of protests

Published

on

Family visitation partly restored at New Jersey ICE facility after week of protests

Family visitation at the Delaney Hall immigration detention center is being restored to at least part of the facility, New Jersey’s governor and US homeland security officials confirmed on Sunday morning, after a week during which heated demonstrations at the site were met with aggressive policing tactics.

Meanwhile, families of detained immigrants grappled with conflicting information about exactly whom among them would get visitation after the announcement from governor Mikie Sherrill and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). And local officials by Sunday had also indefinitely imposed an overnight curfew beginning at 9pm for a blocked-off area including Delaney Hall.

Delaney Hall visitation had been canceled after detained immigrants began carrying out an ongoing hunger and labor strike inside the detention center – which prompted protests outside the facility in support of those striking.

New Jersey state police check names of family members on list for visitation detained at Delaney Hall detention center, in Newark, on Sunday. Photograph: Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock

Facility staff confirmed to the Guardian on Sunday that what are known as units 1 and 3 were given visitation beginning at about noon and 2pm local time, respectively.

Unit 1 is a women’s section of the facility. Unit 2 is where the majority of the hunger-striking detainees are based, and it was unclear on Sunday whether it would have access to family visitation.

Advertisement

Sherrill’s office and the private prison company GEO Group, which runs the facility, did not respond to a request for comment. The road leading to Delaney Hall is now fully blocked by police, except for families attempting to visit detained loved ones, state officials announced on Sunday afternoon.

The governor’s announcement and subsequent confusion by families followed a night of violent clashes outside the facility between local officials and protesters. In the aftermath of that, Newark’s mayor, Ras Baraka, responded by activating a curfew for the area surrounding Delaney Hall.

Anti-ICE protesters gather on Sunday as members of the New Jersey state police close Doremus Avenue near the Delaney Hall detention center. Photograph: Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock

The curfew would be in place nightly from 9pm to 6am “until further notice”, said Baraka’s office, which threatened arrest or legal action if people did not disperse during that time.

On Sunday morning, Sherrill and other top New Jersey state officials said that three people were arrested on Saturday night as a result of clashes with police. State officials said those arrest happened after a group of protesters attacked police and a barrier.

The Delaney Hall protests and clashes have become the latest flashpoint in the growing opposition to the aggressive anti-immigrant tactics Donald Trump’s administration has implemented nationwide throughout his second presidency.

Advertisement
Protesters clash with New Jersey state police outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center late Saturday in Newark, New Jersey. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detains immigrants in its network of facilities across the US while the cases of those detained play out in courts.

ICE detention centers have been repeatedly criticized for harsh conditions.

Hakeem Jeffries, the top US House Democrat of nearby New York, conducted an oversight visit of Delaney Hall on Sunday, and said the conditions of confinement “shock the conscience”.

On 22 May, a group of immigrants detained inside Delaney Hall detention announced a hunger and labor strike inside the facility, demanding improved conditions, medical care, a meeting with Sherrill and for their immigration cases to proceed. Between 300 and 400 detainees have since participated in the strike.

Protests began shortly thereafter, with lawmakers attempting to visit the facility. The facility gained further national attention after ICE officers pepper-sprayed US senator Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, outside the facility during a skirmish there on Monday.

Advertisement

ICE officers have used pepper spray as well as stun guns throughout the demonstrations. They have also shoved and arrested protesters.

A rightwing counterprotester holds a flag as they face off against anti-ICE protesters in front of Delaney Hall detention facility, in New Jersey, on Saturday. Photograph: Farhad Parsa/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

On Friday, Sherrill and other top New Jersey officials announced that state police would replace ICE officers outside Delaney Hall. The state police set up road blocks around half a mile on either side of the detention center.

That night clashes erupted after state police officers began moving in on protesters. State police officials on horseback moved through the crowd. Other state police officers in riot gear shot teargas canisters at protesters, aggressively shoving demonstrators and arresting six.

Advocates present at Delaney Hall on Saturday repeatedly criticized Sherrill, a Democrat, for her response to the protests.

“The escalation that happened [on Friday] was ten times worse than what ICE was doing to everyone prior nights,” Murad Awawdeh, the president and CEO of the New York Immigrant Coalition, said in an interview on Saturday outside of the facility. “If anything, the escalators were the state police.”

Advertisement

A statement from Sherill on Saturday announcing the restoration of family visitation at Delaney Hall claimed DHS had “met our demand”. But DHS refuted the governor’s statement.

“To be clear: Visitation was only suspended because of violent riots,” a DHS spokesperson said. “Now that we have a secure perimeter, visitation can resume.”

Continue Reading

News

See the Reflecting Pool’s Problems That Trump’s Renovations May Not Fix

Published

on

See the Reflecting Pool’s Problems That Trump’s Renovations May Not Fix

Methodology

The illustrations of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool’s plumbing system were drawn from National Park Service documents produced as part of its renovations and reviewed by people with knowledge of the project. The layout of the expansion joints was derived from photographic evidence and a 2013 report released as part of a lawsuit against the Trump administration.

Advertisement

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending