A rally held in support of Palestinians on the steps of the University of Georgia’s Arch Thursday evening drew a crowd of about 100 supporters and some counterprotesters that highlighted simmering tension in Athens since last week’s surprise attack by Hamas in Israel.
The assault killed more than 1,300 people. Retaliatory Israeli bombing has since killed more than 1,530 people in Gaza, according to some reports. Over the past week, UGA saw demonstrations in support of both Israel and Palestinians, and other universities in Georgia have also held events and vigils.
At Thursday’s rally, chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” echoed through Athens’ busy downtown intersection. Though the event was peaceful, some passersby yelled expletives at the demonstrators and one man was led away in handcuffs after a confrontation with the protesters and police and charged with disorderly conduct, obstruction and simple battery on a law enforcement officer.
Peyton Hayes, an officer of Students for Justice in Palestine at UGA, which co-hosted the rally, led the crowd in a series of chants interspersed with speakers from multiple organizations, including Athens Against Cop City and Young Democratic Socialists of America in Athens. Most of the demonstrators were students.
Speakers condemned Israel’s bombing campaigns and its cutting off food, fuel and other supplies to densely populated Gaza. They called for an end to U.S. foreign aid to the country and drew parallels to racial justice movements in the United States.
Credit: Jacqueline GaNun
Credit: Jacqueline GaNun
“I proudly stand with the Palestinian people,” Hampton Barrineau of Young Democratic Socialists of America said during the rally. “This is a time of crisis and those who are not standing with those who are being indiscriminately bombed are not on the right side of history. Too many civilians have died on both sides of the barriers.”
A group of students and community members gathered across the street from the arch in disagreement with the rally. They didn’t approach the demonstrators. Dylan Rowen, a senior at UGA, came across the rally by chance. He’s a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Jewish fraternity, and said the atmosphere on campus has been charged since Saturday.
Rowen said hearing support for the Jewish community and being with his fraternity brothers has made him feel more secure in Athens. But he still feels the tension.
“I don’t go about my daily life the same way I did about a week ago. I definitely have more of a guard up,” he said.
University officials have encouraged students to access campus services for counseling and other resources. UGA President Jere Morehead wrote a letter Thursday to students, faculty and staff calling this “a dark and difficult moment for our campus, for our nation, for our world — and especially for our Jewish friends and colleagues, who are understandably feeling unsure and unsafe in the wake of this unspeakable tragedy.”
Morehead wrote the university is committed to free speech, but warned it will not “tolerate the escalation of rhetoric into violence of any kind” and encouraged students concerned about their physical safety to contact campus police.
Hayes, the officer of Students for Justice in Palestine, said the group was there to show solidarity with Palestinian civilians who are unable to leave Gaza and are facing heavy bombing.
“No matter who is doing the oppressing, we’re gonna stand with the oppressed,” Hayes said. “We acknowledge the real, legitimate threat of anti-Semitism, but you cannot bind that to the pro-Palestinian movement.”
To Rowen, having dialogue between supporters of different sides is important in understanding the conflict in Israel and Gaza is nuanced.
“I think that’s the main thing is trying to gauge a new perspective and see something from somebody else’s point of view,” Rowen said. “And I think that’s also kind of a reason I might be here, is just to try to understand.”
This article has been updated to include the complete quotation from Barrineau.
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