Dozens of pro-Palestine activists, many of them UGA students, showed up at City Hall during an Athens-Clarke County Commission meeting to demand that the mayor and commission take a stand in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Speakers said that Palestinians, and Arabs and Muslims more broadly, do not feel safe in Athens. “I no longer feel that this is my city because when my country is under attack, my local government remains silent,” said a student who gave her name as Yara.
They also said that the UGA administration is suppressing their free speech, and that ACC police are standing by while they are harassed during demonstrations. “All we’re asking for is a resolution saying ‘no’ to genocide and ‘no’ to those who are censoring us for condemning it,” said one person who identified themself as Ceci.
Most of the speakers did not give their full names or addresses, in violation of the commission’s public input policy. A few also wore bandanas covering their faces. Some held Palestinian flags or wore the flag’s colors.
Some of the speakers condemned Mayor Kelly Girtz and nine commissioners—all except Jesse Houle—in harsh terms for not taking a stance on the war in Gaza in favor of Palestine. “On all levels it is our government and our representatives—you, all of you—who give their unwavering support to Israel and refuse to stop this genocide,” UGA student Trey Holloway said, pointing across the rail. Another speaker told the M&C that “you have blood on your hands.”
Some of the activists appeared to believe that the ACC government is sending $1.8 million in local tax dollars to Israel each year to buy arms, “spent exclusively on weapons of death and destruction,” as one put it. (That, needless to say, is untrue.) Another said ACC is “allocating $1.8 million… to ending bloodlines.”
However, one speaker clarified that the $1.8 million figure is actually the share of ACC residents’ federal tax dollars that are going to Israel. Houle said that a calculator is circulating on social media allowing people to figure out how much in federal tax revenue from their community is spent on foreign aid to Israel.
Some commissioners responded with annoyance to the pro-Palestine group, which included members of Students for Justice in Palestine, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Students for Socialism and the UGA Young Democrats. Those commissioners took issue with the assumption that they are opposed to a ceasefire, and threats to unseat them in upcoming elections. Both commissioners Patrick Davenport and Tiffany Taylor called their comments disrespectful. Commissioner Ovita Thornton chided them as well, but more gently.
“I stand in solidarity with Gaza and Palestine, and I call for an immediate ceasefire. But your disrespect tonight is unacceptable,” Taylor said. “Each one of you have privileged lives. Each one of you is going home with a roof over your head, clothes on your back and food on your table. So to sit here and assume that we as a local government do not care about what’s going on, I see the same videos as you have.”
Like Davenport, Commissioner John Culpepper said he is not focused on international issues, but ones closer to home. Commissioner Melissa Link questioned what good a local resolution would do, and urged activists to contact their congressman and senators.
“I’m just in local government,” Link said. “I don’t even like to call myself a politician. I’m just trying to make my own little community a little bit better.”
But Houle contended that a resolution would carry more force than people speaking as individuals. “I can keep saying some stuff on Twitter, attending rallies like I did last Thursday, but that doesn’t mean nearly as much as this body making a formal statement,” they said.
Houle has been outspoken about Gaza on social media but denied that they organized the demonstrators. “I believe I heard an under-the-breath remark that I started this. I did not start this. I had nothing to do with it,” they said. “This is people in our community.”
Several of the public speakers took issue with a comment Commissioner Allison Wright apparently made during a break to the effect that the demonstrators were lucky they didn’t have jobs to be at in the morning. They pointed out that even those who are students cared enough to stay until midnight during finals. Wright apologized for the “light-hearted comment out in the hall. I did not mean disrespect to your whole group,” she said.
Only one person spoke in favor of Israel. “You cannot ask Israel to cease fire,” said Pat Bates. “If the Gazans did not want retaliation, they should not have started it.” The next speaker called Bates’ comments “racist propaganda.”
In actual official business, the commission:
• voted unanimously to approve Micah’s Creek, a Habitat for Humanity development of 63 small homes at Little Oak and Burney streets.
• voted 7–2 to deny permission for a breezeway and deck at a house in the Bloomfield historic district. Neighbors said they are concerned that the complex will be rented out as a “party house.” Houle supported approval, while Davenport voted against both denial and approval.
• voted 7–2 to approve a subdivision and a sewer pump station off Newton Bridge Road after Thornton convinced the developer to include amenities like a walking path and crosswalk connecting it to Holland Park. Link and Commissioner Carol Myers voted no, citing concerns about the ongoing expense of maintaining the pump station and the sprawling car-centric nature of the development.
• voted unanimously to send a policy on charging nonprofits to lease county-owned facilities back to the Government Operations Committee again. Commissioners have been trying since 2021 to find a fair way to set rents for organizations like the Town & Gown Players and the Athens Neighborhood Health Center after noticing a racial disparity in charges for different groups. Currently all nonprofit rents are set at $1 while a new policy is under review.
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