After months of protesting on the University of Toronto (UofT) main campus, students peacefully accepted a court injunction that instructed them to leave on Wednesday, July 3.
Since April, students have been camped at UofT calling for that institution to disclose and divest from its investments in the state of Israel as that government continues to kill Palestinian civilians and take their land.
“Our encampment may be leaving this physical space, but our fight will continue in the hearts and minds of everyone who believes in human dignity and justice,” said Mohammad Yassin, a Palestinian student, in a press conference on Wednesday.
In a statement to the media published through the UofT Occupy for Palestine account on X, the group explained that they had chosen to leave the encampment before the 6 p.m. deadline to avoid the violence they expected would be brought against them by the police.
“We refuse to give the Toronto Police Service any opportunity to brutalize us, as they have done repeatedly since October to pro-Palestinian protesters across the GTA,” the statement reads.
#Toronto police violently attacked Palestine supporters with horses. The police arrested two demonstrators.#Gaza pic.twitter.com/B4JjAXSb6l
— Nur Dogan (@nurdogandiyorki) March 30, 2024
Judge: UofT encampment protest was not antisemitic
Ontario superior court justice Markus Koehnen ruled earlier this week that UofT had the right to remove the protesting students from their property, but said that the university and the interveners in this case failed to prove that the protest was antisemitic or racist.
“Although there clearly have been instances of antisemitic hate speech outside of the encampment, there is no evidence that the named respondents or encampment occupants are associated with any of those instances,” Justice Koehnen’s ruling reads. “The encampment itself has people of various backgrounds including Muslims and Jews. It conducts weekly Shabbats involving Jews and Muslims. Both Jewish and Muslim members of the encampment have testified about its inclusive and peaceful nature.”
Furthermore, justice Koehnen found that the phrase “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” which is a popular slogan in the peaceful pro-Palestine movement, is not by itself antisemitic.
Despite the ruling, pro-Israeli lobbying group B’nai Brith Canada, who was an intervenor in the case, continued to defame the encampment and protesters by stating that they were antisemitic.
‘We will return’
In their statement, UofT Occupy for Palestine stated that while this encampment phase of their protest was over, that their struggle will continue.
“The encampment was always just one tactic in our vast toolbox,” their statement reads. “Our campaign continues, stronger and more determined than ever. We’ve started targeted outreach to alumni, and come fall, every incoming student will hear our message loud and clear.”
The labour movement had been vocal supporters of the encampment protesters.
Ontario Federation of Labour president Laura Walton gave a speech in support of the encampment at the campsite at the end of May.
READ MORE: Ontario Federation of Labour rallies with students at UofT encampment
Canadian Union of Public Employees Ontario president Fred Hahn issued a statement on X on Wednesday in support of the protesters:
“All of us @CUPEOntario are so profoundly proud of the courage & strength of @occupyuoft – their strategic action rised issues of the urgent need to divest from genocide. When Public Institutions value private property rights over political advocacy for justice we should all worry.”
Similar encampment protests continue at Canadian universities across the country. The encampment at McGill University in Montreal remains in place with no signs of letting up.
In London, ON Western University president Alan Shepard threatened consequences for protesters on that school’s campus if the encampment there was not cleared by the weekend.
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