UPDATE: The Covington Commission meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 6 is a caucus meeting and will not have a time dedicated to public comment. Ahmad informed LINK nky after the publication of this story that he and his allies will speak instead at the legislative meeting on Feb. 13, in contrast to his statements at the demonstration.–LINK nky editorial, Feb. 5, 2024.
Demonstrators pushing for a resolution from the Covington City Commission supporting a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip held a protest at Goebel Park Saturday afternoon. Following speeches from protest organizers, the demonstrators marched through the Mainstrasse and Mutter Gottes neighborhoods as well as parts of downtown.
The event’s logistics were handled by several pro-Palestinian and leftist groups: Covington for Ceasefire, Cincinnati Socialists and the Palestine Diaspora Movement, among others.
Pressure to support a resolution for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip has been going on for the past few months and has been headed up primarily by Mohammad Ahmad, a Covington resident of Palestinian descent who first brought to the issue to the commission in November. Last month, the city commission and Mayor Joe Meyer declined to take up the resolution, arguing that it was not within the purview of the commission to weigh in on international affairs. Ahmad said at Saturday’s event that he and his coalition planned to continue pushing for a resolution at next week’s commission meeting.
“Covington cares for Palestine; Covington cares for a ceasefire,” Ahmad told LINK nky. “… I want to show elected officials and just show people that Covington really does support Palestine.”
Later, after speeches had begun, Ahmad asked attendees from Covington to raise their hands, and hands throughout the crowd went up. The crowd also included many from Cincinnati and other parts of the region, however. One attendee told LINK nky that they had come from Chicago. The exact proportions of people who were from Northern Kentucky versus people from elsewhere was unclear.
Zeinab Schwen, who has family in Palestine and who had spoken at a commission meeting, saw the diversity of attendees as a good thing, an indication of their shared humanity.
“The bombardment and displacement and killing of innocent people, everybody’s against that,” Schwen said.
Several speakers from various groups addressed the crowd, discussing the history of Palestine and arguing that the actions of the Israeli government were unjustly cruel and violent. Many characterized the Israeli state as a settler occupier, and several speakers compared the actions of the Israeli government to violent incursion against indigenous North American peoples by the United States. The United States’ military support of Israel was another common criticism.
Several encouraged the attendees to engage in activism by signing petitions and contacting legislators.
Marching began after the speeches concluded. Police in cruisers and on bicycles escorted the demonstrators throughout the city, at times issuing commands to stay on the sidewalk from loud speakers. The demonstration itself remained peaceful, although some of the the protestors’ chants were critical of the police.
When asked to comment, Covington Police Sergeant Andrew Endicott said the demonstrators had followed all proper permitting procedures, but he declined to comment on the issue of the ceasefire or the demonstrators themselves. Other police officers at the event declined to comment at all.
Reactions from bystanders were mixed. Some were split on the issue of the resolution itself, although everyone who spoke with LINK nky said they supported the demonstrators’ right to protest.
Amy Edwards, who lives in Cincinnati but was in Mainstrasse at the time of the protest, said she supported the protestors and had been looking for ways to get involved.
“I’m glad to see people out protesting because I think it’s important,” Edwards said. “And our media, it’s kind of not doing a very good job of covering what’s happening.”
Randall Thompson, a Covington resident and Iraq war veteran, said he wasn’t sure what people in Covington could do about what was going on between Palestine and Israel.
“It’s good they’re protesting,” Thompson said, “but we’re over here. What are they going to do over there?”
He said that violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians had gone on for years, and he didn’t understand why people had chosen to protest now.
“I don’t get it,” Thompson said. “… I feel like we should take care of problems we got at home first.”
Another bystander from Covington, David Ripps, said he was pro-Israel.
“I believe it is their American right to protest,” Ripps said. “But I’m not on their side… America helped found Israel after World War II. I mean, the Jewish people need to have a homeland.”
He added that he didn’t believe the Covington Commission ought to publicly weigh in on international issues, one way or another.
Stephanie Cope, a resident of the Mutter Gottes neighborhood, said that as a Black woman with a white husband, she generally supported peace between different peoples and didn’t have a problem with the commission supporting a ceasefire, even though she admitted that she wasn’t overly familiar with the resolution itself.
In all, the event took up between two to three hours of the day. Ahmad and other organizers encouraged the attendees to continue engaging in activism at the end of the event.