A crowd of protesters demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza caused the Vallejo City Council to retreat into a recess on Tuesday night in a regular scheduled meeting.
Bowing to the chanted demands of dozens of activists, council members agreed to consider adopting a resolution calling for an end to Israel’s bombardment of the war-torn Gaza Strip in retaliation for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. A draft resolution will go to the council Dec. 12 and, depending on council votes, could be adopted Dec. 19.
Protesters Tuesday decried Israel’s offensive against the political group that killed roughly 1,400 people, most of them civilians, in a surprise attack last month. Israeli bombings and other military actions have killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry – flattening vast swaths of the region and displacing some 1.7 million people in an effort to obliterate Hamas.
“Every day I wake up, I am met with the crushing reality that it’s another day in hell for the people of Gaza,” said Vallejo resident Mimi A., a child of Palestinian refugees who declined to give her last name.
Mayor Robert McConnell allowed only 20 of 48 registered speakers to address the council in the meeting’s first public comment period. He snapped at members of the audience who, at the end of the four-hour meeting, shouted demands that the city speed up its process for potentially taking an official stance on the devastating conflict.
“We adopt a resolution. So what? Do you think it’s really going to change the United States’ federal government?” McConnell said, drawing jeers from about a dozen activists who stayed until the meeting’s end.
Protests both for and against Israel’s actions have engulfed cities around the world in the last two months. Oakland on Monday became the second Bay Area city to pass a resolution similar to what Vallejo’s activists are demanding, following in the footsteps of Richmond in late October.
Activists also disrupted a Berkeley City Council meeting Tuesday night after shutting down another meeting in that city earlier this month.
Hamas and Israel have been in a temporary ceasefire since Friday as the sides exchange hostages. Israel has agreed to extend the truce by one day for every 10 hostages released.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, protesters waving Palestinian flags and wearing shawls indicating solidarity with Gaza scored an early win when Councilmember Mina Loera-Diaz convinced McConnell to extend the first public comment period from 15 minutes to 40 minutes.
Fayza Ayyad, who was born in Palestine, accused Israel of committing genocide and likened the country’s actions to the Holocaust.
“You don’t need a lot of meetings. You don’t need a lot of decisions,” Ayyad told council members. “What’s going on in Palestine, everyone hears and everyone sees on TV.”
Shouts of “Free Palestine!” and “Viva Palestina!” erupted from audience members when McConnell refused to extend public comment at the end of the 40 minutes. Council members filed into a back room as activists roared in outrage – waving signs, draping a Palestinian flag over the dais and seizing a microphone to plead for action.
Security guards appeared but did not physically intervene during the recess, which lasted roughly 15 minutes.
The majority of the activists exited council chambers either during the break or over the next two and a half hours of city business. Some shouted grievances against the council’s actions as they left.
Matthew Fernandes, an organizer with Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine, was one of the few who stayed to the end of the evening to reiterate demands.
“You all have a chance today to put Vallejo on the record as a city that stands for peace and justice as opposed to a city that spinelessly stays quiet in the face of ongoing genocide,” he said.
McConnell noted that some council members will likely be out of town for the Dec. 19 vote. The council can pass resolutions with members absent, but city actions still require at least four “yes” votes.
