Live updates: Students in Iowa City, University of Iowa lead protests supporting Palestinians
A day of organized Israel-Hamas war protests is planned in Iowa City Friday, beginning with a demonstration outside of City High School, followed by a three-day rally on the University of Iowa campus.
The demonstrations take place as student-led protests and encampments have swept across college campuses in America, with participants calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for their respective universities to stop investing endowment money in Israel, among other demands.
This week, protestors at a rally at Iowa State University on May 1 demanded the school cut financial ties with companies that profit from the Israel-Hamas war.
Organizers of the three-day demonstration on the Pentacrest in Iowa City said they are not planning an encampment, and that they are "standing in solidarity" with other student protests — which have been the sites of increasingly hostile confrontations between protestors and police resulting in hundreds of arrests and injuries — and to facilitate “education and cultural exchange.”
The demonstration, which is planned from noon to 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, is said to include musical performances, artist demonstrations, and areas for prayer and study.
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12 p.m.: Three-day demonstration at the University of Iowa begins
A group of about 50 students gathered on the University of Iowa Pentacrest shortly after noon on Friday, jumpstarting the first of three days demonstrating “solidarity” with encampments across college campuses in the nation.
Free speech signs dotted campus entrances near the Old Capitol Building, outlining what is permitted and forbidden demonstration and protest activity.
Iowans for Palestine, which have met each Friday afternoon since the outset of the Israel-Hamas war in October, will meet on the east side of the Pentacrest as usual Friday.
City High students who began holding a demonstration of their own Friday morning are also expected to visit the Pentacrest in the afternoon.
A small group of Iowa City Students for Justice in Palestine organizers trickled in just before noon, carrying snacks and games.
The rally's May 3 schedule is as follows:
Set Up and Land Acknowledgement — 12 p.m.
Opening Discussion with Lisa Heineman — 12:15 p.m.
Dhuhr Prayer — 1 p.m.
Art Build — 1:20 p.m.
Iowans for Palestine Protest — 3:30 p.m.
Asr Prayer — 5 p.m.
Jewish Voice for Peace Student-Led Shabbat — 6 p.m.
Tear Down — 7 p.m.
11 a.m.: ‘We are doing this for the people in Palestine’: Iowa City student organizers share purpose for demonstration
About 15 students stood on the front lawn of City High School Friday morning. They hung signs that read, "End U.S. Aid to Israel" and "Stop bombing children."
The student-led group City Students for Palestine on Instagram, spent the past few weeks organizing the strike. They said they are standing with students and calling for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. The City High group said they worked with University of Iowa students to organize "The People's High School for Palestine," which coincides with the University of Iowa weekend-long gathering, "People's University for Palestine" on the Pentacrest.
"This specific action is in support of those in Palestine and against the Israeli government," said City Students for Palestine organizer and City High senior Penelope Wilmoth. "We are doing this for the people in Palestine and need to focus on that. It's good to talk about free speech and student rights, but this is for the people in Palestine."
The group anticipated more students and community members would show up throughout the day, including Palestinian students from West High School, who are scheduled to lead discussions.
“We just don't think you can see what's going on in Gaza and the West Bank and stay silent and not say a thing," said fellow City Students for Palestine organizer and City High senior Kalea Seaton. "The main thing that we're trying to do is to get more support and just awareness for what's going on. And then get people involved because of the way that change is going to come and get the movement to grow."
More: Iowa City student group prepares for weekend Israel-Hamas war rally on Pentacrest
8:55 a.m.: City High School students who participate in organized demonstration to be marked with unexcused absence
A student group at Iowa City High School organized a strike from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. on Friday, May 3, encouraging students and community members to join them "in solidarity with students at Columbia University and across the country in standing up for the human rights of all Palestinians and denouncing the US-funded genocide."
About a dozen participants were setting up the demonstration outside the high school before 9 a.m. The students plan to head to the Pentacrest at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
High school administration acknowledged a “student walkout” and that “students have the right to participate in organized protests,” in principal John Bacon's email to the City High Community on Thursday, May 2.
In the email obtained by the Iowa City Press-Citizen, Bacon said that students who leave class to attend the demonstration will be marked with an unexcused absence unless parents excuse it by notifying the school.
Students who return to school after participating will have to check in at the main office.
More: Why are college students protesting across US for Palestinians? What about in Iowa?
Iowa City Press-Citizen reporters Jessica Rish, Julia Hansen and Ryan Hansen contributed to this article.
Paris Barraza is a trending and general assignment reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at pbarraza@registermedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Israel-Hamas war protests reach Iowa City, University of Iowa
