'Welcome everybody to the SF State rally for solidarity with Gaza!' boomed a speaker as the crowd of students jammed Malcolm X Plaza for the noontime rally. San Francisco State on Monday became the latest American university to establish a live-in protest over the conflict between Israel and Hamas.'Free, free Palestine! Free, free Palestine!' the protesters chanted.
Professor Martell still isn't entirely convinced that things will stay peaceful.'The tradition of this university is to have cops come and destroy everything and arrest everyone. So if they keep up that tradition, we're in trouble,' he said. 'But I hope that doesn't happen.'That 'tradition' dates back to 1968 when police engaged in a bloody clash with students engaging in a campus-wide strike over the school's treatment of people of color.