Students for Justice in Palestine hosted its first rally of the school year on Thursday, Sept. 12 in front of the Lincoln Park Student Center. The rally, which featured a press conference then march, continued their calls for DePaul’s divestment from Israel.
During the press conference, former contracted security officer for DePaul Terrence Freeman spoke about his removal from his position at DePaul. Freeman claimed he was removed for being “too friendly to Palestinian students.” In a statement to The DePaulia, a university spokeswoman confirmed Freeman is no longer assigned by his employer to work on DePaul’s campus.
The march around DePaul’s campus ended in front of the Egan statue where a tarp was then decorated with pro-Palestinian messages.
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Terrance Freeman speaks at a demonstration organized by Students for Justice in Palestine at DePaul University’s Student Center on Sept. 12, 2024. Freeman said he was recently removed from his position as a security officer for DePaul because he was “too friendly to Palestinian students.”
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Pro-Palestinian protestors march down Clifton Avenue during a rally hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Chicago. This was the first protest of the school year but not the last, according to SJP media liaison Henna Ayesh.
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A protestor helps paint a tarp with pro-Palestinian images and messages after the rally on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in front of the Lincoln Park Student Center. Speakers at the press conference prior to the rally including SJP media liaison, Henna Ayesh, and Ezra Adamski, a vice president and co-founder of Jews 4 Justice, spoke about the art created and inspired by the encampment last year.
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Terrance Freeman hugs a supporter after speaking at a demonstration organized by Students for Justice in Palestine at DePaul University in Lincoln Park on Sept. 12, 2024. Freeman’s removal from his position as a campus security officer sparked outrage.
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A protestor at the pro-Palestinian rally on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, blows through a conch shell as supporters march down Sheffield Avenue. Protestors brought signs, wore keffiyehs, used airhorns and more to show their support for DePaul’s divestment from Israel.
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A speaker at the pro-Palestinian rally speaks into a microphone towards the crowd in Lincoln Park on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. Protestors chanted for university divestment from Israel, the freedom of Palestine and academic freedom.
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Falastine Ahmed, 4, leads a chant at a demonstration organized by Students for Justice in Palestine at DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. Thursday’s march marked the first on-campus protest of the new school year.
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A Palestinian flag waves in the setting sun above DePaul’s Lincoln Park Campus on Sept. 12, 2024. Staff, students and community members gathered in protest demanding financial transparency from the university.
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