Tension between St. Paul City Council and Gaza Protesters Continues

Compared to last week’s St. Paul City Council meeting, during which loud chanting from protesters forced the council to take a recess, this week’s council meeting went smoothly. However, lingering signs of the unresolved conflict between the council and protesters opposed to the war in Gaza remained.

As they had in previous weeks, protesters with signs decrying the war filled the council chambers. Because last week protesters used the meeting’s public hearing as an opportunity to share their opposition to the war, Council President Jalali opened today’s public hearing by cautioning speakers to stay on topic. Prior to the public hearing the council had heard a presentation from city employees about plans to spend the revenue from the 1% sales tax voters approved in November.

Despite the warning from Jalali, the first person to testify stated that he was opposed to the sales tax and asked the council to instead “determine the total amount of revenue that you expect to raise from this tax and turn to your federal partners and take that money out of the Pentagon.” However, the remaining speakers stayed on topic and expressed support for the city’s plans for spending the revenue.

After the council completed its agenda, Jalali said she would stay around to speak with the protesters who had attended the meeting and announced that the council was adjourned. Council Member Nelsie Yang, the only member of the council to support a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, said she had another item. Jalali stated that the meeting was adjourned but she was happy to talk to Yang after the meeting.

Yang, accompanied by an uproar from the audience, said “that’s really unacceptable.” Meanwhile, the other five members of the council began to leave the chambers. After a brief exchange with Jalali, for the second week in a row Yang was the only council member to remain in the chambers to meet with the protesters.