US Envoy pulls out of Magee meeting due to protest

Mr Kennedy was due to take part in a meeting at Ulster University to discuss the campus’ expansion with the newly created Magee Taskforce.

However the special envoy pulled out of the meeting due to the presence of the demonstrators.

Among the protesters was Derry and Strabane District councillor Shaun Harkin.

The People Before Profit councillor described the invitation of Mr Kennedy to attend the meeting as “completely inappropriate amid genocide in Gaza”.

Cllr Harkin said: “All universities have been destroyed across Gaza, all schools have been destroyed. There are thousands of students who have been killed, and there’s thousands of children who have been killed who would have gone on to be university students.

“And in the US right now as well, tens of thousands of students have been protesting Biden’s policies in Gaza and they have been attacked by police, they have been imprisoned, they have been suspended from school, expelled from schools. 

“For Biden’s representative to come to Derry to talk to about the future of students in Derry, to talk about the future of university expansion, just seems completely inappropriate and we want to take every opportunity to try and pressure the US government to change its policy of supporting genocide in Gaza. 

“This was an opportunity to do that. Similar to the meetings in The White House, we wanted to deliver the message to Joe Kennedy, who is a supporter of the genocide in Gaza, who has called for the criminalisation of the Palestinian Solidarity movement, who is a promoter of US arms companies who are profiting right now from the death and destruction we are seeing, but also to send a message to Joe Biden as well that their support for Isreal’s genocidal war in Gaza should end.”

Despite not attending the meeting, Cllr Harkin said protestors were approached by a US State Department official who told them Mr Kennedy would be “happy to meet them and hear their concerns”. This offer was declined.

Cllr Harkin accused the special envoy of seeking publicity on the visit to the Magee campus.

“I did see that some Ulster University representatives met with Joe Kennedy, and I think people need to look at this with a broader context and realise that what Mr Kennedy wants is PR. It’s public relations, and they want to be able to show that it’s business as usual in Ireland, it’s business as usual around the world, despite what they are complicit with in Gaza,” he said.

A US Department of State spokesperson said: “The special envoy had a constructive meeting in Derry with Ulster University staff. Discussions focussed around the expansion of the campus and the genuine economic benefit this will bring to all communities in the City and wider region.”

Ulster University has declined to comment on the matter.