Close X
Friday, October 11, 2024
ADVT 
National

Pro-Palestinian protesters dismantle UBC camp

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 08 Jul, 2024 05:10 PM
  • Pro-Palestinian protesters dismantle UBC camp

A pro-Palestinian protest camp that had occupied a sports field at the University of British Columbia's Vancouver campus for more than two months has been dismantled by the demonstrators.

Dozens of tents had been removed by Monday, although barricades and fencing around the site remain in place.

A statement from UBC says "protesters decamped from MacInnes Field" adjacent to the school's transit loop and student union building on Sunday, but did not elaborate. 

A spokeswoman for the protest camp confirmed in a text message that it had closed.

A UBC security guard at MacInnes Field who declined to be named said the protesters vacated the site without giving any notice on Sunday evening.

Guards were patrolling the area Monday to prevent unauthorized people from entering the field while they waited for cleanup crews to arrive.

On Friday, more than 35 tents and a small handful of people were visible at the site that had been occupied since late April by protesters demanding that UBC end any financial or academic ties with Israeli companies or institutions.

A spokeswoman for Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, B.C., said it had no update on a protest camp there. The University of Victoria did not respond to requests for updates on an encampment at its campus.

The low-key closure of the UBC camp came after another protest site at the University of Toronto was vacated last week. That came after a judge ruled in favour of an injunction sought by the school to clear the camp.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Markus Koehnen ruled the encampment took away the school’s ability to control what happened on its properties. The result, Koehnen said, amounted to irreparable harm.

"In our society, we have decided that the owner of property generally gets to decide what happens on the property," Koehnen’s decision said.

University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist had said the Ontario decision could act as a road map for other schools looking to remove protest camps. He said its reliance on property law meant schools could issue trespass notices to protesters before starting the legal process of clearing them out.

Protesters at several Canadian schools including UBC issued a joint statement on social media last week calling the Ontario decision "shameful" for prioritizing property ownership over students' rights.

The statement said protesters would "continue to act on our campuses and apply pressure to our universities through every possible avenue."

The UBC camp once included about 75 tents and was bustling with music and activity, but at one point on Friday only three people could be seen inside the fenced zone.

Vancouver Island University had said in a statement last week after the Ontario court decision that it was "exploring similar legal avenues taken by other institutions."

The school said about 25 protesters occupied a school building in late June and disrupted an exam, while another building was vandalized over the Canada Day long weekend.

Vancouver Island University said its settlement proposal to the protesters had been rejected, and the escalation of disruptions on campus shows "encampment participants are unwilling to engage in good-faith dialogue."

MORE National ARTICLES

Interior health says parents should ensure kids caught up vaccination

Interior health says parents should ensure kids caught up vaccination
Interior Health says parents should ensure their kids are caught up with their childhood immunizations, as data shows declining vaccination rates.  Health officials say most parents know that childhood vaccines are safe, but online misinformation and other factors, such as parents simply forgetting, could be factors in the decrease in immunization rates.

Interior health says parents should ensure kids caught up vaccination

Truck firm, Chohan Freight Forwarders Ltd, involved in multiple B.C. overpass strikes loses licence to operate

Truck firm, Chohan Freight Forwarders Ltd,  involved in multiple B.C. overpass strikes loses licence to operate
The British Columbia government has cancelled the operation licence of the trucking company involved in multiple highway overpass strikes since 2021. Transportation Minister Rob Fleming says in a statement that the province has sent a formal cancellation notice to Chohan Freight Forwarders Ltd. for the company's operations in B.C.  

Truck firm, Chohan Freight Forwarders Ltd, involved in multiple B.C. overpass strikes loses licence to operate

'I heard my mother's last screams': Canadian Sikh shooting survivor slams cops for 'inaction'

'I heard my mother's last screams': Canadian Sikh shooting survivor slams cops for 'inaction'
With 13 bullets pumped inside her body, the lone survivor of a shooting spree in Canada last year who watched her Sikh parents die in front of her, wants swift justice and says police didn't do their duty well. Jagtar Singh Sidhu and Harbhajan Kaur, both in their 50s, were shot more than 20 times just before midnight on November 20 at their rental property along the Caledon-Brampton border in Ontario province.  

'I heard my mother's last screams': Canadian Sikh shooting survivor slams cops for 'inaction'

2 deliberately hit by car in Abbotsford

2 deliberately hit by car in Abbotsford
Two youth in Abbotsford who said they were deliberately hit by a car were taken to hospital with minor injuries. Officers were called to a neighbourhood yesterday and found the teens who said the driver struck them after a disturbance.  

2 deliberately hit by car in Abbotsford

RCMP forms team to combat extortion

RCMP forms team to combat extortion
The RCMP says it has established a national team to help co-ordinate investigations and information sharing about extortion schemes targeting South Asian businesses in B.C., Alberta and Ontario. Mounties say the team is a "nationwide alliance" of police agencies that are all investigating extortion and violent threats, which have been tied to shootings and arson. 

RCMP forms team to combat extortion

Falcon says BC United's housing plan includes rent-to-own initiative, drops taxes Victoria

Falcon says BC United's housing plan includes rent-to-own initiative, drops taxes Victoria
British Columbia's Opposition Leader Kevin Falcon is pitching a housing plan that aims to get more first-time buyers into homes, and it comes just days after Premier David Eby promised to build more affordable rental units for the middle class. Falcon says the BC United's "Fix Housing" plan includes four initiatives to reduce the high cost of housing and increase supply, which he pledges to introduce if his party takes power in this fall's election.

Falcon says BC United's housing plan includes rent-to-own initiative, drops taxes Victoria