Palestinian activists say ‘No Lollapalooza during genocide’ at weekly march

Chicago, IL – The Chicago Coalition for Justice In Palestine held another weekly protest on Saturday, August 2, the same time as the Lollapalooza music event. While downtown was full of festival goers, about 700 Chicagoans came out demanding an arms embargo and an end to the genocide and famine against Gaza.

“There should not be thousands of people for Lollapalooza, there should be thousands of people to protest against this genocide!” declared Nesreen Hasan with the US Palestinian Community Network.

Hasan and other speakers demanded justice for Khamis Ayyad, a Palestinian man who lived in Cicero, Illinois. Ayyad was murdered by Israeli settlers in the West Bank on Thursday.

“I think what this genocide has proven, like our grandparents have said, the more and more the Israelis take and we allow them to take, they are going to take. What we need right now is to put our foot down, we need to say Khamis Ayyad’s name — it is up to us to bring justice to Khamis,” Hasan said.

“It starts from the head of the snake with Donald Trump and works its way down to our elected officials in Congress,” stated Nick Sous, also with USPCN. “Like with Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth — who because of our pressure, after sending $18 billion of bombs to Israel, finally had an ounce of courage to vote for an arms embargo just this week.”

Sous continued, “It works its way down to people like [Representative] Sean Casten, who represents the largest Palestinian community in the country, who won’t even do the bare minimum to sign the Block the Bombs Act. And it also comes down to State Treasurer Michael Frerichs, who has invested over 100 million in Illinois tax dollars in Israel bonds, claiming it is a good investment while in reality the economy in Israel is crashing because the world is standing against them.”

Adam Al Nakhla with Students for Justice in Palestine said, “Do not let this media narrative of the weak Arab and the weak Muslim make you pessimistic or despair, because anything is possible, including a free Palestine from the river to the sea.”

Hasan concluded by reminding protesters of historic fights against colonialism.

“Algeria took 103 years — so we don’t fight for Palestine just for our lifetime, we fight for Palestine for our future!” Hasan said. “Do you think the Algerians who were martyrs said, ‘I want Algeria to be free just in my lifetime’? Did you think the people who fought against South African apartheid did it just for them? They did it for future generations!”

After the speeches, the crowd took to the streets around the Loop area. As they marched, some protesters handed out flyers with further calls to action, such as a petition demanding Illinois divest from the Zionist entity. You can sign the petition and find more information about the divestment campaign here: bit.ly/awcdivest.

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