Conflict at Conflict: Students protest restaurant closure

Roughly 200 people surrounded Conflict Kitchen Monday evening to show their support for the restaurant after it announced its closure after receiving death threats last week. 

Conflict Kitchen, a permanent food stand in Schenley Plaza that serves a rotating menu based on the cuisines of countries with which the U.S. is in conflict, announced on its Facebook page Friday that it would be closing until further notice after receiving death threats in a letter. 

Conflict Kitchen served Palestinian food prior to closing —  something many in Pittsburgh claimed was a one-sided take on the Palestine-Israel conflict.

The owners of Conflict Kitchen could not be reached for comment on the protest, and they declined to comment on the death threats on Saturday. They have expressed discontentment with media coverage on their website and Facebook page.

Students for Justice in Palestine, a Pitt student group, organized the demonstration, which began at 5 p.m., and they hope to repeat every day at 5 p.m. until Conflict Kitchen reopens. 

“Closing Conflict Kitchen is the perfect example of trying to silence [the] Palestinian voice,” Haley Murphy, a Pitt student, said. 

Murphy, a junior majoring in global management and marketing with a certificate in Arabic, is a member of SJP, and said she has always been a big fan of Conflict Kitchen. She held a sign outside the restaurant that read “I Support Open Dialogue, Tolerance, & Delicious Food.” 

Members of the crowd stepped forward one-by-one to say why they supported Conflict Kitchen. 

Two women engaged the crowd in a song, while others stated reasons such as “love, solidarity and empathy makes the world make sense” and “over some good food enemies can become friends” as the reasons for why they support Conflict Kitchen. 

Supporters also held signs that read things like “CK Strong,” “We Support Conflict Kitchen” and “Thank You Conflict Kitchen, We Support You.” 

Murphy said students deserve to experience other cultures and have a more diverse campus. 

“I just want people to know that Conflict Kitchen represents a very peaceful project. It’s not a message of hate,” Murphy said. 

Hadeel Salameh, president of SJP, said people from different backgrounds and with different political views attended the demonstrations. According to Salameh, a senior majoring in creative writing, the demonstration was about solidarity. 

“But today’s not about politics. It’s about standing with the Conflict Kitchen,” Salameh said. 

Salameh said that Conflict Kitchen has meant a lot to the Students for Justice in Palestine during its past projects but even more so since the food stand started serving Palestinian food. 

“We don’t like to see that voice silenced, but first and foremost it’s a recognition of their safety,” Salameh said. 

Raghav Sharma, a sophomore majoring in politics, philosophy and economics, is the secretary of SJP and agreed with Salameh. 

“We think violence has no place in rational political discourse,” Sharma said, referring to the death threats. 

Sharma said that although interest in the demonstrations will probably eventually dwindle, the members of SJP will continue to show up each day to support what they believe in. 

“We wanted to show the people who try to silence us through violence that we will not stand for that,” Sharma said. “We will raise our voice whenever we can to say what we believe in.”