Area Students Demand Ceasefire in Israel-Hamas War

(KNSI) – A small group of high school students left class early on Tuesday for an unsanctioned pro-Palestine demonstration.

About 25 teenagers met at Eastman Park at 2:30 p.m. and proceeded to march through the surrounding neighborhoods. They traveled east along 7th Street South towards the campus of St. Cloud State University, before returning after about a half-hour.

KNSI News spoke with three of the participants on the condition of anonymity. The person credited with organizing the event says it was sparked by other, larger protests in places like the Twin Cities and across the country. She said the message they hoped to send was that a ceasefire is needed immediately in the Israel-Hamas war to spare innocent civilians.

Another said it was their way of doing something about a horrible situation. She said even if the event was small in numbers, it helped humanize the cause in central Minnesota. These are no longer faces hidden behind screens calling for a ceasefire, they are students and members of your community.

A third said he wanted to raise the possibility of political ramifications over the conflict. He said that President Joe Biden has been too supportive of Israel, and unless there was an immediate course correction in policy, he believed Muslim-Americans would refuse to go to the polls for the Democratic ticket in next year’s general election.

District 742 sent an email to parents and guardians on Tuesday saying that students did not have permission to leave school to be a part of the event. It said that they would receive an unexcused absence unless a family member called in to okay it.

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