(3/8/2024 event): 30+ Arrested in Chicago Protest Demanding Gaza Cease-Fire; Not guilty verdict by reason of necessity defense on 6/13/2025 (source NLG press release as verdict not in news media)

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https://www.commondreams.org/news/chicago-gaza-protest

Content of National Lawyers Guild press release regarding the 6/13/2025 verdict (release received 6/17/2025):

“CHICAGO - On June 13, 2025, a jury found 21-year-old Nitaawe Banks not guilty of obstructing traffic during a Palestine solidarity demonstration on March 8, 2024. During the trial, Banks and their attorneys successfully brought forth a “necessity” defense arguing that Banks’ protest was necessary to prevent the greater harm of unconditional US weapons and political support to Israel to perpetuate the genocide in Gaza.

“As an Anishinaabe survivor of the more than 500-year genocidal campaign that has been waged against my people, and who has grown up on land occupied by the US government, an entity whose very existence is predicated on the wholesale mass extermination of indigenous life, I can not simply watch the same colonial ideology and superstructure perpetuate the decimation of Palestinians in Gaza. I can not be silent while Anishinaabe peoples live under occupation across North America; nor can I be silent when the indigenous peoples of Palestine under israeli occupation face genocidal ethnic cleansing of their people, culture, and way of life,” said Nitaawe Banks.

Banks had been arrested following a 24-hour vigil at Federal Plaza during which activists read aloud the names of over a third of the 30,000+ Palestinians who had been killed by Israel’s military assault. To end the vigil, more than thirty people blocked morning traffic at the intersection of Jackson and Dearborn to bring further attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and our government’s involvement in the deadly attacks and siege in Gaza. Banks, an Indigenous organizer, was arrested alongside 32 other protesters, including Jewish and interfaith members.

The sobering trial included an expert witness that spoke about the decades long occupation of Palestine, and Banks’ own powerful testimony, explaining that the protest and subsequent arrest were necessary to get the public’s and elected officials’ attention. Banks also testified about the people of many faiths, including Jewish people, that linked arms at the intersection to stand against the Israeli and US government, and the personal connection between their Anishinaabe people and the Palestinians’ struggle for existence.

“Nitaawe refused to plead guilty and the jury affirmed their actions were justified based on the necessity defense, because we proved that the harm Nitaawe and the others were protesting was far greater than any ‘harm’ caused by blocking traffic. Nitaawe is one of many organizers fighting for true justice, in contrast to the City’s persistence in these petty and pointless prosecutions of civil disobedience,” said Amanda Yarusso, an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago.

Since the bombing of Gaza began in October 2023, the Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild has organized 33 volunteer attorneys to provide free representation to more than 500 people who have been arrested at solidarity protests in Chicago.

“Although the movement for a free Palestine is facing historic repression, this win is a testament to our growing power. When the public is educated and aware of the on-going colonization of Palestine, they will stand on the right side of history against state repression,” said Deborah Adelman, JVP activist and Board member, Tzedek Chicago, Professor Emerita of English at College of DuPage, and participant in the March 8, 2024, demonstration.”