CLEVELAND — After demonstrating before Cuyahoga County Council members for months, Palestinian supporters are now directing their efforts at county executive Chris Ronayne.

They were removed from council chambers by police on Tuesday night for disrupting the council meeting with a chant after public comment.

“While we are here, bombs are falling on Gaza,” said Noelle Naser, a local Palestinian activist. “Every day, every minute that we wait to divest from Israel bonds, is more lives that are lost. So we came here today with a unifying message from the people to disrupt the meeting, to say that there is no business as usual while genocide is going on. We will continue to fight until Israel Bonds are gone from Cuyahoga County.”

Activists said they’ve been trying to schedule a meeting with Ronayne for months to discuss the county’s $16 million dollar investment in Israel Bonds, but so far, they haven’t been able to get on his calendar once.

Last week, they held a protest outside Ronayne’s house — leaving a letter at his door. 

They said they were tired of waiting for him to agree to a meeting, after he denied several of their requests.

In this week’s council meeting, Ronayne was not present, but several commenters addressed him directly anyway.

In a statement, Ronayne’s office said, “Executive Ronayne respects the right to free speech and protest. He firmly believes these rights are fundamental to democracy as long as the demonstrations are conducted lawfully and peacefully. The County Executive takes every request for a meeting seriously. The administration has been responsive to all meeting requests and remains committed to open dialogue and fostering conversation.” 

As of this week, demonstrators have attended nine consecutive county council meetings.