Pro-Palestinian protesters dismantled their encampments at two southern Ontario universities over the weekend, while demonstrators at another university campus were served with trespass notices on Monday and warned that legal action could follow.
The University of Waterloo and Western University encampments were evacuated about two months after they were established, as part of a broader movement calling on academic institutions to cut ties with Israel.
A group representing the Western University protesters said their decision was made after “careful consideration” and that they will continue to push for divestment through other means.
University President Alan Shepard said in a statement that the encampment ended peacefully. “As we look to chart a new path forward, we will focus on rebuilding relationships and identifying opportunities to come together as a community,” he wrote.
At the University of Waterloo, a student-led group representing the protesters said it decided to “voluntarily decamp” Sunday night in what it called a strategic decision.
The group said it would now target the university’s investments and partnerships with Israel, which it said were exposed in the wake of the protest against the encampment.
University President Vivek Goel said the encampment was dismantled peacefully and the school was now withdrawing the injunction it had recently filed in connection with the protest.
Mr Goel reports that this has been a “difficult and divisive time” and that the university is looking at engagement opportunities that will bring its community together to address complex challenges.
The university’s legal challenge named several individual protesters it said identified themselves as representatives of the encampment, as well as unidentified individuals involved in the protest. The university also sought an injunction to dismantle the encampment and allow police to arrest and remove people who refuse to leave.
Protesters had denounced the legal action on social media, calling it an attempt to intimidate students with the possibility of heavy fines they would be unable to pay.
They also claimed in the online statement about the camp dismantling that those named in the lawsuit had been harassed while the legal action “emboldened agitators.”
The university’s president wrote in his statement Monday that he hopes the coming weeks will see the school and students “working together to bring healing and peace to our community.”
Guelph Trespassing Notice
Meanwhile, protesters at the University of Guelph, also in Ontario, faced the possibility of legal action Monday after the university issued a trespass notice and warned it would go to court if the group remained.
The university said in a written statement that it distributed the notice after protesters ignored its demand to dismantle the camp by Sunday evening.
“This has been a delicate and difficult situation for everyone in our community and I know there will be many conflicting views on how to move forward,” university President Charlotte Yates wrote.
“We are committed to acting in the best interests of our entire university community and ensuring that U of G remains a welcoming space for all.”
On social media, protesters wrote that they had been given 24 hours to evacuate and were now facing legal action. The camp was set up in late May.
In a previous article, one of the groups supporting the protest called the university’s Sunday night deadline an aggressive and escalatory tactic.
Last week, protesters dismantled a two-month-old encampment on the University of Toronto’s downtown campus after a judge granted the school an injunction that would have allowed police to move in to evict and arrest those who remained.