The Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce canceled an event featuring lawmakers due to social media posts containing what they described as “violent imagery” promoting protests outside the event.
The organization was scheduled to host a “Policy Breakfast” at Ithaca College Thursday featuring Congressman Josh Riley, State Senator Lea Webb, State Assemblymember Anna Kelles, and Tompkins County Legislative Chair Dan Klein.
However, the event was abruptly cancelled the day before.
In a statement the chamber of commerce said that the move was “in the interest of safety.”
“Multiple social media posts advertising protests planned to take place on the Ithaca College campus outside of the event included images of the planned participants and violent imagery, prompting safety concerns,” the statement said.
The chamber did not specify what imagery prompted the organization to cancel the event.
Prior to the event’s cancellation, local pro-Palestinian organizations had advertised a protest against the event over lawmakers legislative history regarding Israel. Organizers included Ithaca College Students for a Free Palestine, the Ithaca Committee for Justice in Palestine, and the Cornell Coalition for Mutual Liberation.
One post showed photos of the lawmakers alongside their titles and the groups’ criticisms. The background of the posts included blood splatters.
This comes after some Ithaca-area advocates have called for their state and congressional representatives to do more to stop the war in Gaza amid rising concerns of hunger and declarations of famine.
Tompkins Chamber President Peggy Coleman said that none of the panelists requested the cancellation.
“It was a decision based on the responsibility that the Tompkins Chamber has to our staff, our members, and the Ithaca College community to put safety first always,” Coleman told WSKG.
Tompkins County Legislative Chair Dan Klein said the Chamber told him the event was canceled on Wednesday.
“I was informed that there was a photo of me and the other elected representatives with images of blood splatters. I did not see those images until today, when I looked at the Ithaca Times article on this topic,” Klein wrote to WSKG on Thursday.
The remaining lawmakers did not respond to WSKG’s requests for comment.
Ithaca College Director of Public Relations Dave Maley said the university “understands and appreciates that the Chamber of Commerce determined that there was the potential for a significant disruption to their event and to the Ithaca College campus, and supports their decision to cancel it.”
Ithaca College Students for a Free Palestine was one of the groups organizing the protest.
Quincey Fireside, an Ithaca College student who serves as the organization's president, believes the posts were intentionally mischaracterized.
“The idea that that was a kind of threat or indication of violence is really elementary and just kind of grasping at straws and pretty pathetic as an excuse to cancel that event,” Fireside said.
Fireside said that their group’s protests against the war in Gaza have been peaceful.
“The idea that we would suddenly escalate that out of nowhere, and using that as an excuse to cancel the event and put the blame on us is really disgusting to me”
Despite the event's cancellation, Ithaca College Students for a Free Palestine still rallied at Ithaca College Thursday morning.
Ithaca College’s student newspaper, The Ithacan, reported that around 10 students and Ithaca community members were served with a noise warning by an administrator during that event.
A university police officer said Fireside “would be receiving a school conduct violation” according to the organizer. Fireside said they had not gotten notice of any disciplinary action so far.