Dozens of memorials and rallies were held Monday in New Orleans to honor those killed a year ago in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and during the ongoing war in Gaza.
Pro-Palestinian student groups led walkouts at several Louisiana universities on Monday to remember the more than 41,000 people killed in Gaza. Marchers Uptown blocked a stretch of St. Charles Avenue next to Loyola University for roughly two hours.
Speakers grew emotional discussing the toll of the war, and criticized administrators at Loyola and Tulane University for refusing to disclose or divest financial ties to the Israeli military. Multiple students who were arrested last spring during a national wave of demonstrations on college campuses attended the rally, including Rory MacDonald, a senior who is still fighting their suspension.
Despite their situation, MacDonald said they’re not afraid to keep protesting.
“Ultimately, I don’t know what that education would be worth if it’s preventing me from exercising free speech and standing on the right side of history,” they said.
Attendees wrote “Free Palestine” on the street with chalk and drew hundreds of hands, representing the children who have been killed in airstrikes.
Monday’s protest didn’t result in any arrests.
As demonstrators marched along the streets surrounding both campuses, New Orleans police followed and a group of counter protestors formed along Freret Street, holding Israeli flags.
Jake Massett, a Tulane sophomore who is Jewish, held a pole with an Israeli flag and an American flag attached to it. He said the presence of police and barricades around campus property made him feel safe.
“Oct. 7 was a tragic day,” Massett said. “It was a day where people in Israel were sleeping and they woke up to bombs, gunfire, to their family being killed. We’re here to show that we’re here and not going anywhere.”
Students at other campuses also staged Pro-Palestinian walkouts. About 60 people attended a demonstration at the University of New Orleans, including some students from Xavier University.
They wanted to make Palestinian students felt safe and protest the presence of companies on campus that are tied to the war, said Aishah Abdalah with Students for Justice in Palestine at UNO and the Palestinian Youth Movement New Orleans.
“We are here because we can’t stand it anymore,” Abdalah said.
The student groups plan to work with campus government to pass a resolution condemning the presence of companies that are benefitting from the war on campus and then take it to administration, Abdalah added.
There were a number of other Pro-Palestinian marches throughout the city to mark a year since the attack.
Over the weekend, the National Council of Jewish Women and the Jewish Federation and other groups hosted an event in Jefferson Parish commemorating the over 1,200 Israelis who were killed or taken hostage by Hamas.
On Monday, U.S. flags at the Louisiana Capitol and other state buildings flew at half staff to honor the victims.
In a statement, Gov. Jeff Landry said, “Israel is the U.S.’s greatest ally in the Middle East and we remember the victims and pray for the hostages.”
Louisiana’s treasurer also announced the state has purchased $20 million in Israeli bonds and established a new trade alliance with the country.
