(Toronto) A group of University of Toronto students announced Thursday that they had organized a demonstration on campus to call on the university to cut ties with Israel over the war in the Gaza Strip.
Students say in a press release that they broke through a newly installed fence around an area of campus, known as King’s College Circle, to set up an encampment in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
They say they are joining students at other universities in the United States and Canada in calling on their institutions to reveal their ties to the Israeli government and divest from Israeli companies.
Several tents were set up Thursday morning in the center of the University of Toronto’s King’s College Circle, with a few police cars and private security vehicles parked nearby.
Pro-Palestinian activists have set up tents on campuses across the country in recent days, including at McGill University in Montreal, the University of Ottawa, Western University in London, Ont., and the University of British Columbia.
A Quebec judge on Wednesday rejected a request for an injunction aimed at stopping the demonstration at McGill. Two university students had asked the Superior Court to order the demonstrators to move at least 100 meters away from McGill buildings, saying their presence had created a hostile environment that threatened their physical safety.
Judge Chantal Masse ruled Wednesday that the applicants had not demonstrated that their access to the establishment was blocked or that they would not be able to take their end-of-year exams.
“The Court is of the opinion that the balance of inconvenience leans towards the demonstrators whose freedom of expression and peaceful assembly would be significantly affected while the harm demonstrated by the plaintiffs in failing to obtain such an order is rather limited, reflecting more subjective fears and discomfort than precise and serious fears for their safety,” wrote Judge Masse.