Gold Coast protest marks one year since start of Gaza fighting

People packed the streets of the Gold Coast once again on Saturday, nearly a year since they began gathering weekly to demand a cease-fire in the war in Gaza.

The group first gathered in Water Tower Park before marching up Michigan Avenue and later inner DuSable Lake Shore Drive. They lturned on East Schiller Street to chant and sing near Gov. JB Pritzker’s Gold Coast residence, shouting “Stop making bombs” and “cease-fire now.”

Among the sea of Palestinian and Lebanese flags in the park were pockets of others, including Mexican and Irish flags.

Chris Fogarty stood wearing an Irish flag like a cape alongside his wife, Mary O’Sullivan. He said he had become sympathetic to Palestinians and many other groups that he said have suffered under colonial violence, by first learning about his own history.

Fogarty’s grandfather had been a British soldier in a company known for its role in taking food out of Ireland during what he had been taught was a famine in the 17th century. He said he saw the connections between the food being taken out of Ireland hundreds of years ago and the struggles some faced now.

“We got involved through learning about the Irish situation,” Fogarty said. “Learning that we’d been lied to our whole lives, it was a shocking thing. … It is so clear that the genocide of the people of Ireland, where they were stripped of their legal personhood, and what’s going on in Palestine today, is quite similar.”

Several speakers addressed the crowd in the park, including Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th).

The alderperson was quick to make connections between local issues, such as how nearly 2,000 CPS students with disabilities didn’t have transportation on the first day of school.

“When the state of Illinois can fund genocide, ask why the state of Illinois cannot fund the public schools,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “We have plenty of resources to fund the transportation of kids with disabilities. They say there’s no money for that, but there’s money for genocide.”

He then went on to take a jab at Ald. Brendan Reilly for his since deleted tweet of a pager stating “Mazol Tov” — a reference to Israel injuring hundreds in Lebanon with exploding pagers — as well as politicians who have only supported resolutions but not more direct legislative action.

“It’s not enough to pass symbolic resolutions,” Sigcho-Lopez said.

Two protesters were arrested during the march, Chicago police said. Further details weren’t released.

Ayah Saleh, a Palestinian Loop resident, said several of her loved ones have been killed in Gaza. She said the tragedy was made worse knowing that her tax dollars had played a role in it.

“It’s one thing to see U.S. imperialism doing its work overseas and in your homeland, but it’s another thing to see your taxpayer money going toward it,” she said. “You play a direct role in the slaughter of your family.”

After a year of demonstrations and continued Israeli bombardment, she said getting out to protest is still therapeutic because it’s something that she is able to do. She also said seeing protesters achieve their demands helps instill hope.

“Sometimes you ask yourself what’s the point if nothing has come out of it, but then you see the encampment protests and how some universities have divested,” she said. “It’s so important, especially if you feel alone, to see all of it coming together. Even when it feels like there’s nothing you can do.”

Contributing: Kade Heather