A San Francisco activist group plans to hold a press conference Wednesday morning outside San Francisco City Hall before a student walkout Wednesday morning at local schools in support of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
In a social media post (opens in new tab) Tuesday, the Arab Resource & Organizing Center said the walkout is also intended to protest Israeli military action against civilians in Gaza.
Religious and labor leaders will join activists and some city leaders outside City Hall at 10 a.m. before the scheduled walkout begins at 10:30 a.m., according to the post.
In a statement (opens in new tab) Tuesday, San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Matt Wayne acknowledged the walkout, saying that it was not district-sponsored and that the district had given staff guidance on safety expectations.
“At SFUSD, we strive to educate our students to think critically, cultivate empathy, and resolve conflicts peacefully,” Wayne said. “We hope that as adults you will join us to model the same behaviors that we want to see in our classrooms and schoolyards. Violence is never the answer.”
According to the publication The Jewish News of Northern California (opens in new tab), some groups of Jewish parents are reaching out to the superintendent in an open letter to express concern for student safety around the walkouts.
On the international front, President Biden is scheduled to visit Israel on Wednesday and will arrive in the wake of an explosion (opens in new tab) at a Gaza hospital that left hundreds of people dead. While Hamas said it was caused by an Israeli airstrike, Israeli military officials said a rocket fired by Palestinian militants misfired.