Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted Tuesday’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting in Manchester, bringing the session to a halt with loud chants of “Free Free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Dozens of pro-Palestinian supporters showed up at City Hall demanding a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. Many of them attended a protest rally outside before the meeting.
Members of the group said they want Manchester aldermen to discuss and approve a cease-fire resolution, saying the biggest city in the Granite State can no longer remain silent when people are dying in the Middle East.
“We will not be quiet and we will not allow 2.4 million Gazans (to) be displaced and wander in the desert of Egypt,” Manchester resident Salaam Odeh said.
The public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting erupted into chaos when Odeh attempted to speak. All public comment participants are asked to put their name on a sign-in sheet, which is collected before the start of the meeting.
The names on the sheet are read off by City Clerk Matt Normand, and each person is given three minutes to speak.
After more than an hour of comments on the cease-fire issue, Normand announced no one else had signed up to speak. That’s when Odeh moved toward the table at the front of the aldermanic chambers attempting to speak.
Meanwhile, Mayor Jay Ruais asked for a motion to take all comments under advisement, looking to begin tackling the posted agenda items for the main BMA meeting.
Supporters began yelling “Free Free Palestine,” “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and “Let her speak,” essentially shutting down the meeting and preventing additional business from being conducted for more than five minutes until Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg addressed the group, saying Odeh would be given her three minutes to speak and asking the group to be respectful.
Mayor: ‘Not germane’
Alderman Joe Kelly Levasseur drew the ire of many of the pro-Palestinian speakers for exiting the aldermanic chambers during much of the testimony Tuesday night.
“The chaos that ensued last night was indicative of the left’s idea of the only way is their way,” Levasseur said Wednesday. “The irony of these people asking for peace and then acting like nut jobs should not be lost on anyone.”
From audio and video recordings of the meeting, it appeared Normand called Odeh’s name twice as the fifth speaker on the sign-in sheet, but when no one came forward, he moved on to the next name on the list.
Bradley Conway, a Ward 12 resident, read a draft Tuesday night of a proposed resolution saying the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen joins with “representatives of other U.S. cities in calling on our President and our Federal representative delegation to demand an immediate and enduring cease-fire, the provision of life saving humanitarian aid in Gaza, the release of all hostages, detainees and political prisoners on both sides.”
The resolution also calls on aldermen to demand an end to U.S. military aid packages and all arms distribution to Israel and establish a committee to identify, divest from and prevent business with all entities involved in the U.S.-Israeli military industrial complex.
Ruais said Wednesday the proposed resolution is “not germane to the business of the city of Manchester, and I will not entertain it as mayor.”
“Our public discourse always has to be respectful in keeping with our rules regarding decorum,” Ruais said. “Any disruption of city business is entirely unacceptable and will not be tolerated, which is why I worked with Manchester police to immediately deescalate the situation and move on to city business.
“I firmly believe that listening to the public is an essential part of governing as evidenced by the public comment period routinely going beyond the 30 minutes allowed by the rules of Board of Mayor and Aldermen, but what we witnessed on Tuesday crossed the line.”
In October, Hamas-led militants led surprise attacks against Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage.
Since then, the Gaza Ministry has estimated that more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are women and children.
Approximately 70 U.S. cities have passed cease-fire proclamations as municipal leaders debate whether to weigh in on the international conflict, according to Reuters.
Sebastian Rowan of Ward 2 thanked aldermen Ross Terrio and Pat Long for speaking with supporters of the resolution.
“My comrades and I have been calling and emailing all of you repeatedly in the last two weeks and these were the only two who were willing to have a discussion about this issue with us,” Rowan said.
“Some of you actually answered your phones, most of you never returned our calls,” Rowan said. “You should be ashamed. Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. We have a responsibility to do anything and everything in our power to stop this, because this genocide is funded with our tax dollars.”
Manchester resident Alex Fowler pointed out Levasseur and Alderman Ed Sapienza left the room while those demanding a cease-fire were speaking.
“Unless they both simultaneously had to answer a call of nature, I believe this flippant abrogation of their duty to consider public comment was either a signal of their ignorance of the current global crisis or a glaring dereliction of their duties as public servants of the citizens of Manchester.”
No action was taken by city aldermen on the resolution request.
