'Free Palestine': AISD high school students stage walk out to protest Israel-Hamas war

As protesters gathered at the University of Texas on Monday in a continuation of pro-Palestinian demonstrations from last week, students at some Austin high schools walked out of class to show their own frustration with the Israel-Hamas war, which has reportedly left more than 30,000 people dead in Gaza.

About 100 students walked out of class Monday afternoon at McCallum High School and marched about a mile around the campus perimeter chanting, “Students together can make the world better.”

The McCallum High students were among those at some Austin district high schools who held demonstrations Monday afternoon in support of Palestinian people caught in the Mideast conflict as Israel continues bombarding Gaza in response to a surprise deadly attack by Hamas, a militant Palestinian group, against the Jewish state on Oct. 7.

McCallum High students gathered under a massive oak tree in front of the school and chanted while other students held signs and waved a green, red, black and white Palestinian flag.

“Free, free Palestine,” chanted several dozen students in a tight circle near the oak’s trunk. Several others stood farther back, sheltering in the shade from the warm sun.

Some of the students who protested did so because they disagree with the United States' financial backing of Israel's war effort, said McCallum High senior Zephan Mayeda, who helped organize the demonstration.

“A lot of us feel immense empathy for the people that are suffering in Palestine,” Mayeda said, adding that he also wanted to show solidarity with student protesters at UT.

“People are getting assaulted for showing their rights,” Mayeda said of the crackdowns on protesters.

Police on Monday arrested scores of people at UT after protesters set up an encampment on the campus' South Mall. At an earlier protest at UT on April 24, police arrested 57 protesters, all of whom were charged with criminal trespass. Travis County Attorney Delia Garza’s office, however, dropped all those charges after finding the probable cause affidavits from the April 24 protest were deficient.

Pia Ibsen, a McCallum High senior, participated in the high school rally Monday to show her support for the children and families harmed by the fighting in Israel and Gaza, she said.

“We just want to make our voices heard,” Ibsen said.

Ibsen had attended a pro-Palestine rally at UT on April 25, which had remained peaceful and had far less police present than the demonstration a day earlier. People at that protest gathered and chanted for a couple of hours before dispersing.

Ibsen has participated in protests for years, she said, because it’s important to her that people hear her voice.

“I’m 18,” Ibsen said. “I’m old enough to vote. I’ve been doing protests for a long time. I’m the future. I’m going off to college. I can make a difference.”

Some UT students, who are part of an on-campus Jewish student group, attended Monday's protest at the university to speak in opposition to the pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Those students said they felt threatened by language they heard at Wednesday's protest, which they said was antisemitic.

At McCallum High on Monday, it was important to Mayeda that people didn’t associate the high school students' protest with antisemitism, he said.

One high school student speaker addressed this concern when speaking to the other students gathered and called for peace.

In a message to parents ahead of the Monday demonstrations, Austin school Superintendent Matias Segura wrote that the events were not sponsored by the district and were entirely organized by students.

“We are dedicated to creating an atmosphere that values diversity and condemns all forms of discrimination,” Segura said in the letter.

The district also had counselors on campus during and after the protests to provide support to students who needed it during or after the demonstrations.

“We recognize that our students may have a variety of emotions and perspectives around these sensitive issues,” Segura said in the letter.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 'Free Palestine': AISD high school students stage walk out to protest Israel-Hamas war