Subzero wind chill temperatures couldn’t stop a group of protesters who gathered at the Champaign County Courthouse Monday evening for an “emergency protest” against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The protest came two days after ICE agents fatally shot 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and weeks after agents shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good in the same city.
Students and community members lined East Main Street, holding signs and repeating chants to passing cars.
Arthur Paganini, an organizer representing the Party for Socialism and Liberation, led chants and delivered a speech to the crowd of over 100.
Workers in Minneapolis and across the state held a historic general strike on Friday, taking to the streets to protest instead of working, attending school or shopping. Paganini said the group would be holding a community meeting on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Independent Media Center to plan their involvement in a nationwide strike on Friday.
Jessica Yasin, a member of the CU Muslim Action Committee, spoke to the crowd as well.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
“Any one of us could have been Alex Pretti,” Yasin said. “We are Alex Pretti because we protect our neighbors. We are Alex Pretti because we refuse to stay silent with injustice happening.”
The large-scale ICE operation in Minneapolis has been ongoing for over six weeks, to the frustration of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. In the past week, Walz has urged the president to withdraw agents from the state and activated the National Guard in Minneapolis to support peaceful law enforcement efforts.
“If you’re one of those people that are coming out tonight for the first time, we welcome you,” Yasin said. “We’re not gonna question what took so long, we don’t care. We are here to welcome you, because division is their weapon. Ours is solidarity.”
Max Kogan, an organizer with PSL, emphasized the utility of economic resistance and urged the crowd to join Friday’s strike.
“Our students must follow in the steps of those before us, from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, to Palestine today, the war has returned to our home,” Kogan said. “As we saw with the movement against the genocide in Palestine, the students are necessary to achieve this change.”
The protesters held signs with slogans such as, “Democracy doesn’t fear protest, dictators do!” and “ICE out of our communities.” Some signs read “Arrest Jonathan Ross for murder now!” referencing the ICE agent who killed Good.
Following the speeches, protesters marched through downtown Champaign, chanting and waving signs as they went through the frigid night.
