Cold weather and police presence did not stop protesters from making their voices heard.

Pro-Palestine protest at the UIC campus. Photo by Elizabeth Gregerson.

Pro-Palestinian protesters arrived at University of Illinois Chicago on Thursday, January 11, to send a message to another visitor on campus — First Lady Jill Biden. 

Biden spent a short time at UIC as part of a panel on women’s health, specifically addressing the lack of research surrounding menopause. 

The protesters took over one barricaded corner of the Wood Street and Taylor Street intersection, half a block down from where Biden’s visit took place. Chicago police officers stood on each of the intersection’s other three barricaded corners, allowing car traffic and pedestrians to navigate through the noise. 

The protest began at an intersection at UIC half a block from where Dr. Jill Biden visited. Photo by Elizabeth Gregerson.

The crowd of over 100 protesters chanted “Cease fire now,” “Free, free Palestine” and “End the occupation now” in between multiple impassioned speeches directed at Biden and her husband, President Joe Biden. 

The protest was organized by the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine, a collective of groups who work together to promote their shared opposition towards the government of Israel’s actions in Palestine. 

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas militants from Palestine attacked Israel, killed 1,200 Israelis and took around 240 hostages. As of this writing, Gaza’s Ministry of Health reports that Israel’s military has killed 23,469 Palestinians and injured 59,604 in retaliation for the Hamas attack. 

Protestors outside the UIC building wave flags and hold signs in response to Dr. Jill Biden’s attendance. Photo by Elizabeth Gregerson.

Husam Marajda is a co-chair of the United States Palestinian Community Network, one of the organizations in the coalition which has organized at least 18 protests since the events of Oct. 7. Standing in the 30-degree air, he says the protests will continue regardless of the weather conditions. 

“The momentum hasn’t died,” Marajda said. “It has gotten cold, and that did affect a little bit of the attendance, but we still got people out here. Every week, we still have people who come out.”

The organizations chose to protest the First Lady’s visit because they believe the Biden administration has been complicit in what they call the “genocide” of Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli government.

“Her husband has spread lies about Palestinians,” Marajda said. “He said things that have been debunked and have been proven false, that enabled the genocide to keep going.”

Protestors hold a large sign reading “End the genocide on Gaza.” Photo by Elizabeth Gregerson.

Reuters reports that the Biden administration “asked Congress to approve an additional $14 billion” in military aid, outside of $3.8 billion the United States annually gives Israel.

Marajda says their organizations want to encourage other Americans to put pressure on their government officials.

“We want people to be on the right side of history,” he said. “In 50 years, we’re gonna look back at this and a lot of people are gonna say, ‘Wow, we should have done something.’”

Not everyone standing at the intersection agrees with the protesters’ tactics. Jeremiah Cowen was at the UIC medical campus for a routine physical therapy appointment when he encountered the protest. 

“It is disrupting certain things, but it’s not disruptive to me,” Cowen said. “We’re still pretty privileged in America, so this is nothing really disruptive in my opinion.”  

Police monitor the protest in response to Dr. Jill Biden’s attendance. Photo by Elizabeth Gregerson.

Cowen felt the protesters were being unnecessarily critical of the police officers present when the group chanted, “CPD, KKK, IOF, they’re all the same.”

“I noticed that they’re generalizing all the police officers here when the police officers are 95% ethnically diverse,” he said. “I’m just really upset at the racism without acknowledging how they are not perfect as well. I mean, the phone she’s f—g using is made by African slavery.”  

Cowen was referencing a young protester reading off her smart phone as she spoke to the crowd. The protester had just told the police officers that they would “rot in hell for eternity.”

“I’m proud of the fact that they’re out here trying to care about something other than just TikTok,” he said. “But this is not the conversation that’s gonna help fix the problem. This is just causing more segregation and more hate and more separation. We all have blood on our hands. I think it’s important to have a healthier conversation than this.”  

Marajda sees things differently. 

“Don’t blame the protesters for what they’re doing,” he said. “For disrupting your daily lives or whatever. Blame your government for the funding of this genocide.” 

Pro-Palestinian protestors organize outside a UIC building with heavy police presence. Photo by Elizabeth Gregerson.

Header by Julia Hester