Pro-Palestinian Protest Fills Downtown Streets

More than 1,500 pro-Palestinian protesters from across the state on Sunday marched downtown in the latest mass public demonstration of outrage with Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.

The rally and march, which was organized by a group called the Connecticut Palestine Solidarity Coalition, kicked off on the Green at noon.

With countless red, black, white and green flags, chants of ​“Free, free Palestine” and ​“From the river to the sea,” and even a large papier-mâché puppet of President Joe Biden dressed as a blood-spattered butcher, the protesters made their way from the Green into Chapel Street to block traffic.

“We’ve been working for more than two months to bring people here because Connecticut must also stand up and take a stand,” said Layan Alnajjar, one of the lead organizers of the movement. She cited the deaths of more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza over the past six months, and the U.S.‘s continued support for the Israeli military, as primary motivations for Sunday’s event. 

Protesters also called on Connecticut’s politicians to speak out against Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, chanting ​“DeLauro, Lamont we charge you with genocide.” 

“Come November voters will remember,” they added. 

New Haven Police Department Crowd Control Sergeant Justin Cole estimated more than 1,500 people were present during the march. He said 22 NHPD officers monitored the protest and, as of 2:50 p.m., made no arrests at the peaceful gathering.

The mass public demonstration took place as college campuses across the country have erupted over the past week with student-led pro-Palestinian protests and encampments, leading to hundreds of arrests, disrupted classes, and charges of antisemitism and Islamophobia. The New Haven rally also took place several days before the Board of Alders is set to host an online-only public hearing on Wednesday about a proposed resolution endorsing a call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Starting at noon on Sunday, protesters gathered the Green including to hear from members of the Connecticut Palestine Solidarity Coalition, New Haven Jewish Voice for Peace, New Haven Semilla Collective, and the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, among other organizations.

“We’re here because the same occupiers preventing Palestine from being free are working with the people here in New Haven, Connecticut and the U.S. preventing us from being free,” said Javier Villatoro, an organizer with Semilla. 

Miranda, an organizer with JVP who gave only her first name, said that she is proud to be an ​“anti-Zionist Jew” who stands opposed to a nation state that ​“contradicts” her religious values. 

Throughout the protest, organizers led chants of ​“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” ​“Globalize the intifada,” ​“We will not forget our martyrs,” and ​“Resistance is justified.” Jewish groups on Yale’s campus, in New Haven, and across the nation have denounced some of these chants as antisemitic and calls for violence against Jewish people in Israel and across the world. Protesters also called Israel a terrorist state.

During the Occupy Beinecke protests last week, organizers of the encampment denounced some these chants and said organizers did not condone or lead those chants.

Protesters on Sunday made their way from the Green to Chapel Street through Yale’s campus and over to the intersection of Broadway and York to hear from some of the nearly four dozen Yale students who had been arrested by university police on Monday morning.

Those arrested read a statement denouncing the university for arresting them and demanded that they cease all disciplinary action and drop the Class A misdemeanor criminal trespassing charges Yale police had charged them with. 

“On Monday morning, Yale put us in zip ties, they turned Yale shuttles into prison buses, they turned the rotunda of the Schwarzman center into a holding cell, and the entire building into police headquarters to break up a peaceful protest of students calling for an end to the death in Gaza,” they said. 

During Sunday’s protest, Yale Police Chief Anthony Campbell, who warned students to disperse from the now-cleared tent encampment on Monday, stood on the side listening. 

Representatives from the UConn encampment also spoke on Sunday, saying their universities ​“have made clear that they prioritize money over their students.”

The protesters returned to the Green at around 3 p.m.

Click here to watch some of Sunday’s march.

Thomas Breen contributed to this report.