Longmont City Council hears calls for Gaza cease-fire

Matthew Bennett, Daily Times-Call, Longmont, Colo.
·2 min read

Mar. 5—Several speakers called for a local proclamation to be approved for an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza during a Longmont City Council meeting Tuesday.

Christopher Allred, who previously petitioned the council to support a global treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, also via a proclamation, was one of the people to call on the city to support a cease-fire proclamation Tuesday.

"We need to be speaking out. We are affected at all levels of government; at all levels of society," Allred said to the council Tuesday. "This systemic violence affects our daily lives. So, we are reaching out to our local government, and we hope that you will join us in this message for peace."

Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 70,000 wounded in the Gaza Strip, the Associated Press has reported. The war began after Hamas-led militants stormed across southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 others hostage, according to the Associated Press.

The group in Longmont, which did not have a formal name, wrote a proclamation that called on the Longmont City Council to support "an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza and occupied West Bank."

The proclamation also called for "immediate, unhindered humanitarian aid into Gaza, and (the) release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinian civilians."

Although Longmont residents are required to provide their addresses while speaking at council meetings, several of the group's speakers declined to do so over safety concerns. They insisted that they were indeed Longmont residents, however.

The proclamation was not included as part of the Longmont City Council's packet of materials or as an agenda item for formal council discussion. The council also does not typically respond to commenters during the initial public comment period in its meetings and did not engage with the commenters.

Longmont's protesters come on the heels of similar discussions at the Boulder City Council and the Denver City Council in recent weeks. Both Boulder and Denver declined proposed cease-fire declarations. At the same time, scores of U.S. cities have passed resolutions on the Israel-Hamas conflict, and most have formally called for a cease-fire, according to Reuters.