A month after a town hall in Downers Grove was shut down due to protests over the Israel and Gaza war, U.S. Rep. Sean Casten faced several activists at a similar event Thursday in Evergreen Park.
Police officers removed individual pro-Palestinian protesters who interrupted Casten’s speech ahead of a scheduled question-and-answer session with about 100 attendees, largely focused on recent policy decisions made by President Donald Trump and his Republican counterparts in Congress.
The Democratic congressman began his address at the Hamilton B. Maher Community Center by acknowledging the Downers Grove town hall protests, which led police to cut the event short as several activists approached and confronted Casten at the front of the stage.
“The police felt that there was going to be a safety situation where some people were disrupting, and the audience was not happy with the people that were disrupting,” Casten said.
“The people who were disrupting had completely valid concerns,” he said, but urged Evergreen Park attendees to raise any issues “respectfully, and then sit down.”
However, fewer than five minutes into Casten’s address, a protester with a megaphone stood up and shouted frustrations about U.S. military assistance to Israel in its deadly attacks on Gaza residents during their war with Hamas. The protester, who was also present at Casten’s event in Downers Grove, would only provide her first name, Lamees.
Lamees and several protesters who followed her continued to interrupt Casten to criticize his position on the war, and were individually removed by Evergreen Park police. Some audience members, frustrated with the disruptions, began drowning them out by singing the song Bananarama song, “Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye).”
After explaining the status of pending legislation he supports and speaking out against the flurry of policy changes instituted by Trump, Casten responded to questions from attendees.
To a question asking him to explain his support for legislation sending aid to Israel, Casten said much of the funding he supported was intended for defensive weapons to protect Israelis from Hamas fighters.
“There is no inconsistency with loving the Palestinian people, loving the Israeli people and criticizing the governments they represent, but trying to make sure they bring that forward,” Casten said.
Casten represents the Illinois 6th District, which stretches from west suburban Lombard southeast to Tinley Park, taking in Chicagoâs Beverly and Mount Greenwood neighborhoods and areas near Midway.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
