This article has been updated.
A day after San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg canceled plans for a City Council meeting to discuss a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, a disruption by pro-Palestinian activists drove council’s Thursday session into recess.
The move was an escalation of protests that have been occurring at the council’s public comment sessions in recent months and drew a response from the San Antonio Police Department.
As the council’s session began, roughly three dozen protesters erupted into chants of “Cease-fire now!” immediately following the invocation delivered jointly by Rabbi Mara Nathan of Temple Beth-El and Waheeda Kara of the Ismaili Jamatkantha. Nathan and Kara were invited by Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1).
Kaur, who is the council’s first member of South Asian and Sikh descent, said she invited faith leaders from both the Muslim and Jewish communities to give the invocation because of the recent wave of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
“This is not to paper over or conceal meaningfully different perspectives on the Israel-Hamas war, but to say, firmly: We do not tolerate discrimination on the basis of one’s faith, period,” she said as she introduced the guests.
As their invocations concluded, the protesters’ shouting began, and Nirenberg called the session into recess.
Council members returned to the dais after several minutes of recess, then Nirenberg called the meeting into executive session.
Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8), who removed his support from a letter calling for the meeting on the cease-fire resolution, was not in attendance. He told the San Antonio Report on Wednesday, “It was clear that there are people with an intent to make this a circus.”
At Thursday’s meeting, the protesters chanted, “Shut it down!,” and “Manny, Manny you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!”
Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2), who had pushed for the meeting on the cease-fire resolution and criticized Pelaez’s decision to withdraw his support, walked off with his fist in the air. He and Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5) are the only two council members publicly pushing for a vote on a cease-fire resolution.
“There’s a lot of cities in this country and very few have passed resolutions, for good reason,” Nirenberg told reporters Thursday. “I think they’ve also made that determination that the proper venue for this is not the city council.”
More than a dozen police officers surrounded the Council Chambers and temporarily limited access to the building. The protesters left the chambers voluntarily just before 10 a.m., shouting “We’ll be back!”
Assistant City Manager Jeff Coyle told media members that people who had disrupted the meeting were not allowed back in after leaving.
“We have to be able to conduct business, so the police officers were here to ensure that we’re able to do that,” Coyle said. “We’ll address it if it happens again.”
Council returned from executive session around 11:10 a.m. and continued the meeting.
Several Pro-Palestinian activists invoked Martin Luther King Jr. during the protest inside the Council Chambers and have vowed to increase their efforts at weekend events leading up to Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
“We’re going to be taking to the streets and disrupting other places where the City Council is,” Tori Cruz, one of the protesters, said in an interview outside the building. “We’re going to continue to turn the heat up until they don’t just talk, debate or discuss the cease-fire resolution, but until they pass it.”
The Party for Socialism and Liberation, Yanawana Herbolarios and the Autonomous Brown Berets organized the protests, according to Cruz.
After the meeting resumed, leaders of San Antonio’s MLK Commission told the council they have heard concerns about the impact the protesters may have on Monday’s MLK march and are trying to accommodate both peaceful protest as well as the safety and security of Jewish attendees.
In an interview after the meeting Dwayne Robinson, chair of the city’s Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, said leaders from local synagogues have reached out seeking assurances that the event will be safe for members of their congregations.
“They just want to know what systems we have in place to try our very best to ensure that no one gets hurt,” he said.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, McKee-Rodriguez said he expects pro-Palestinian activists at the march to try to engage new supporters, not influence elected officials.
“I expect there will be protesters,” McKee-Rodriguez said. “…They want others to know that this injustice is happening and they’re going to want to spread education. I don’t think they want to antagonize.”
