Protesters arrested at Sacramento council meeting speak out: ‘We are going to do it again’

They shouted, didn’t sleep and bundled up in the morning chill after spending a night in jail.

But the protesters arrested during Tuesday’s meeting of the Sacramento City Council said they’d do it again.

Sacramento police detained the dozen, who face charges related to failing to disperse and an unlawful assembly during the heated discussion over the City Council’s resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Council members approved the resolution 6-1 after the meeting was paused by Mayor Darrell Steinberg amid shouts and chants from the audience.

“It’s a simple act of civil disobedience under the First Amendment — this is what qualifies,” Sacramento resident Kevin Boltz, 36, said of his arrest after being released from the county’s downtown Main Jail on Wednesday morning.

After an attempt to clear City Council chambers, Sacramento Police Department officers made the arrests after declaring an unlawful assembly just before 11 p.m.

“All but twelve of the protesters left on their own accord,” police said in a news release. “The remaining individuals who chose to stay in the chambers and disobey the lawful orders to disperse were arrested.”

The protesters are scheduled to appear for their first court appearances on Friday, according to jail logs.

Steinberg held a news conference before the City Council meeting with the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Jewish community members to describe how each side came together to draft the resolution. Each side compromised and didn’t get the language they wanted, said Basim Elkarra, the executive director of the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“This resolution is not about the Middle East so much this resolution is about Sacramento,” Steinberg said ahead of the vote. “We are not at war with each other here in Sacramento. We have a long history of strong interfaith relationships ... these bonds have been tested and in some ways they have been damaged over these past months. Only we together can change that.”

But dozens of people, who couldn’t all fit into the council chambers, opposed the resolution for various reasons. There were about 80 public speakers, some of whom criticized the resolution for seeking a two-state solution or how it would create unsafe spaces for the Jewish community.

Noor Hariz, 48, said he held his ground after being called to disperse because the resolution didn’t accurately represent his beliefs. There were community members and groups that weren’t consulted when drafting the resolution, he said.

“The resolution does not really represent us,” Hariz said.

The approval of an appropriately worded resolution could ultimately help those suffering in the war, protesters said.

Passing a resolution in California’s capital, one of America’s most progressive states, could prompt more cities to follow suit, said Naomi Nickolaus, 18, a Davis resident and another arrestee.

The pressure from more cities will build for President Joe Biden to stop funding the war, said Arriana Meek, 21, of Sacramento, who was also arrested.

The City Council approved the resolution — Councilwoman Lisa Kaplan voted against it and Councilwoman Mai Vang was absent — in an empty chamber with only reporters present several minutes before midnight and after Steinberg called for a recess that ended up lasting more than two hours.

Symbolically, the empty chamber demonstrated how the resolution didn’t bring the unity sought by Steinberg, said Boltz, another arrestee.

Tuesday’s demonstrations and subsequent arrests weren’t the end, protesters vowed.

“If we get a chance to do it again,” Hariz said, “we are going to do it again and again and again.”