Pro-Palestinian graffiti was spray painted on Bloomington’s City Hall building between 10 p.m. March 26 and 6 a.m. March 27, Bloomington Police Department Captain Ryan Pedigo said.
The Showers Building facilities manager called BPD the morning of March 27 after they arrived to find spray-paint on the southside of the building, Pedigo said. The graffiti read “Indiana tax $$$ funds Gaza genocide,” “Free Palestine” and “Let Gaza live.”
The messages have since been covered up, but the case remains active.
The incident occurred just hours before the March 27 Bloomington City Council meeting where Council President Isabel Piedmont-Smith and Councilmember Dave Rollo announced their co-sponsorship of a resolution calling for a ceasefire and more humanitarian aid in Gaza. The pair released a draft of a resolution a day later, on March 28.
Public pressure for the council to take a stance on the Israel-Hamas War had been mounting before the vandalism, with Piedmont-Smith and Rollo sending a memo to the rest of the council March 28 saying they received a petition with hundreds of signatures urging them to pass a resolution supporting a ceasefire. Meanwhile, a change.org petition titled “Bloomington calls for a CEASE FIRE in Gaza” has garnered nearly 2,000 signatures.
However, Mayor Kerry Thomson said during the March 27 council meeting that she will refuse to sign any resolutions addressing issues beyond Bloomington. Thomson’s failure to sign the resolution would mean it is considered vetoed. At least six of the nine councilmembers would need to vote to override her veto.
