By Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Some 40 Claremont Colleges students, local residents, and religious leaders took part in a demonstration in support of a cease-fire in Gaza at Shelton Park on Sunday.

The action, organized by Claremont Community for Palestine, included a short vigil honoring the more than 30,000 Palestinians killed thus far in the conflict as well as U.S. Air Force service member Aaron Bushnell, who died February 25 after proclaiming he could “no longer be complicit in genocide” and setting himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Protesters chanted and held signs reading, “I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” “30,000 murdered with our money, will you still be quiet,” “Stop funding genocide with our tax $, speak up for humanity,” and “stop sending our tax dollars to fund genocide.”

Avraham Stern speaks at the March 10 cease-fire demonstration at Shelton Park in Claremont. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

“I think after the Claremont City Council unanimously voted against a cease-fire resolution, right after Aaron Bushnell self-immolated outside of the embassy, I think community members really felt strongly that holding a vigil to honor the lives of the 30,000 Palestinians who have passed away and also Aaron Bushnell would be a good reminder for the community that we can’t stop organizing no matter where we’re at in the face of genocide and that neutrality in the face of genocide is a stance of passivity that we don’t accept in Claremont,” said Kenny, a Claremont Colleges political science major and demonstration organizer who declined to provide his last name. “I think the main message is ‘We are all complicit in the violence when the U.S. funds genocide with our tax dollars and we need to refuse that complicity.”

The demonstration came a day before the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month where followers fast daily from dawn to dusk.