Pro-Palestinian student protesters set up camp at U of T

Pro-Palestinian protesters moved onto a greenspace at the University of Toronto's downtown campus overnight Thursday, as the Israel-Hamas war nears its seven-month mark.

The group erected dozens of tents in the recently renovated King's College Circle. The area was previously fenced off in anticipation of convocation ceremonies set to take place in about a month, according to the university. 

The move comes as students at universities throughout North America have established their own protest encampments to demand an end to the ongoing war in Gaza. 

In a statement, student protestors at U of T said they are calling on the post-secondary institution to reveal a complete list of its endowment's investments and divest from assets that sustain Israeli apartheid, occupation and illegal settlement of Palestine. They also demanded the school cut ties with Israeli academic institutions that operate within the occupied West Bank.

The students say the university's administration has ignored their concerns despite earlier demonstrations and attempts to engage.

We're not looking for any empty words from the administration, we're not looking for any meetings that don't really get us anywhere, said Kalliopé Anvar McCall, a student participating in the demonstration. She said the encampment will remain until the demands are met to the word.

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A spokesperson for U of T said students could face consequences for their participation in the protest.

The university respects the rights of members of our community to assemble and protest within the limits of the law and U of T policies, but they must not interfere with the ability of students, faculty, librarians and staff to learn, teach, research and work on our campuses, or disrupt or impede other university activities, the spokesperson said.

Our preference is to start with dialogue. Those who contravene university policy or the law risk the consequences set out in various laws and policies such as the code of student conduct, which could include suspension, they continued.

On Monday, administrators sent a campus-wide email warning students against trespassing on university property.

U of T's lands and buildings are private property, though the University allows wide public access to them for authorized activities. Unauthorized activities such as encampments or the occupation of University buildings are considered trespassing, the email said. 

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A group of U of T faculty issued a lengthy statement in support of the students Thursday morning.

University students must be allowed to protest one of the central humanitarian crises of our time without fear of disciplinary measures, the statement said. It also urged against any police intervention to clear the demonstration site.

The statement was signed by the U of T chapters of the Jewish Faculty Network, Faculty for Palestine and Health workers Alliance for Palestine.

• Police presence at UCLA ramps up again after protesters, counter-protesters clash over Israel-Hamas war (new window)

• Student protesters at McGill encampment determined to stay after judge rejects injunction (new window)

Alejandro Paz, an associate professor of anthropology and a member of the steering committee for the Jewish Faculty Network, said that while administrators have made overtures to previous student demonstrations related to the Israel-Hamas war, it has failed to take any concrete steps toward meeting their demands.

I think the encampment has been set up because the administration has not listened to students, students who feel very aggrieved by what is happening in Gaza and the genocidal war the Israeli state is waging on the Palestinian people, Paz said.

They've been trying to get the university's attention for several months, and the university's administration has simply ignored them or pushed them off.

The encampment at U of T is just the latest to take root in Canada. Students at McGill University (new window) in Montreal, Western University in London, Ont., and the University of British Columbia (new window) in Vancouver have also established semi-permanent protest sites.

The student movement began at Columbia University in New York City on April 17. That encampment was forcefully cleared by police at the request of administrators earlier this week. Meanwhile, police began taking down makeshift barricades at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Thursday after violent clashes between protestors and counter-protestors (new window).

Participants say they are trying to draw attention to the ongoing humanitarian situation Gaza, resulting from the Israeli military response to a deadly attack on Oct. 7 launched by Hamas and other militants.

About 1,200 people were killed on Oct. 7, including several Canadians, while some 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli government tallies. Since then, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there.

CBC News ·