Close X
Tuesday, October 15, 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

Overdose homicide in Nanaimo

Overdose homicide in Nanaimo
Mounties in Nanaimo say they're investigating the fatal drug overdose of a woman back in March that they now believe was a homicide.  The Nanaimo R-C-M-P says its serious crime unit is looking into the death of 52-year-old Wendy Head, who was found dead at a home in the city on March 7th.   

Overdose homicide in Nanaimo

Escalating theft and violence aside, London Drugs not considering closures: president

Escalating theft and violence aside, London Drugs not considering closures: president
London Drugs president Clint Mahlman says the company has no plans to close stores due to escalating violence and theft, though the issue has reached a "crisis point" for Canadian retailers. Mahlman says the company was disappointed to learn that a Vancouver city councillor said on social media that London Drugs was considering closing one of its main stores in the city, at the intersection of Granville and Georgia streets, due to crime. 

Escalating theft and violence aside, London Drugs not considering closures: president

Funding for BC hospitals

Funding for BC hospitals
Hospitals in Merrit, Oliver and Salmon Arm will get 7.5-million-dollars in permanent funding from the province to help stabilize physician emergency-room coverage. Health Minister Adrian Dix says challenges like worker recruitment and retention and the ongoing toxic-drug crisis are more prominent in rural and remote communities.  

Funding for BC hospitals

IHIT officer testifies to executing DNA warrant of man accused in B.C. murder trial

IHIT officer testifies to executing DNA warrant of man accused in B.C. murder trial
Sgt-Maj. Heather Lew told a B.C. Supreme Court murder trial that she collected a few drops of blood from Ibrahim Ali's finger on Sept. 9, 2018, two days after his arrest and almost 14 months after the girl's body was found. Ali has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of the teen.

IHIT officer testifies to executing DNA warrant of man accused in B.C. murder trial

Hamas's attack on Israel: Two victims with Canadian ties laid to rest

Hamas's attack on Israel: Two victims with Canadian ties laid to rest
Two victims with ties to Canada who were killed in Hamas's attacks on Israel were remembered fondly by relatives on Wednesday, who called for the world to recognize the brutality of what happened. Tiferet Lapidot, 22, was formally identified by authorities on Monday, more than a week after she died at a music festival near the Gaza Strip border, where Hamas's attack began on Oct. 7. Her family had thought she was among those being held hostage.

Hamas's attack on Israel: Two victims with Canadian ties laid to rest

Burnaby homes gutted by fire

Burnaby homes gutted by fire
Four unoccupied homes have been badly damaged after an early morning fire in Burnaby.  Fire officials say that the homes were slated for demolition. Summers says they needed 42 firefighters and 11 trucks to knock down the blaze.

Burnaby homes gutted by fire