The Bloomington City Council may override Mayor Kerry Thomson’s veto of a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The override appears an agenda item for council action Wednesday. The council needs a two-thirds majority vote to cancel a mayoral veto.
The council unanimously passed the resolution on April third following weeks of public comment both for and against it.
Read more: Community reacts to Bloomington City Council ceasefire resolution
Thomson said she will not sign resolutions she considers not directly relevant to city business. Under state law, the mayor must sign, veto, or decline to sign a resolution passed by the council. Not signing it is effectively a veto.
WFIU/WTIU News repeatedly asked the mayor’s office whether Thomson directly vetoed or declined to sign the resolution but did not receive a direct answer.
The council is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Bloomington City Hall.
Read more: Bloomington mayor says BPD is not participating in student protest crackdown
This comes as hundreds of protesters are rallying on Indiana University’s campus demanding the university divest from Israel and cut ties with the southern Indiana naval base Crane.
They also want top officials, including President Pamela Whitten, Bloomington Provost Rahul Shrivastav, and Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Carrie Docherty to resign — in part for how they’ve handled the protests.
Police have arrested 57 people in connection with the protests and forcefully removed encampments set up at Dunn Meadow. The university updated its 55-year-old policy on encampments at Dunn Meadow, a designated assembly zone, the day before the protests began.
Read more: Local organizations and officials weigh in on protests on IU campus
The city council has denounced the actions and is demanding the new policy be rescinded immediately.
Also this week, the council will hold a work session to discuss procedures for public comment at its meetings. This comes after the April 3 meeting was flooded with hate speech, including neo-Nazi and white supremacist rhetoric.
That meeting will be Tuesday at 6 p.m., also at city hall.
