On July 3 at 5:00 pm, UofT Occupy for Palestine (O4P) — the student group organizing the encampment — announced that they had cleared the camp before a court-ordered deadline.
This decision comes after Ontario Superior Court Justice Markus Koehnen, who presided over the university’s case against the protesters, granted U of T’s injunction request to remove the camp from Front Campus. On July 2, the protesters were given until 6:00 pm on July 3 to end the encampment, before the Toronto Police Service (TPS) was authorized to arrest and remove them.
For over two months, O4P has called on U of T to disclose their financial holdings, divest from companies supplying Israel with weapons and services, and cut ties with Israeli academic institutions.
Around 3:00 pm, the protesters, a union, and other Palestinian advocacy groups organized an “emergency rally” near King’s College Circle in support of the students in the encampment.
Police response
At 12:18 pm, TPS released a statement on X, calling on student protesters to voluntarily leave the encampment.
“TPS respects the right to peaceful assembly and expression, but we must also uphold the law while prioritizing the safety of all individuals,” the statement read. “We are urging cooperation to prevent escalation. Please leave voluntarily to avoid police action.”
Three hours later, TPS released another statement on X, asking the protesters to leave voluntarily.
TPS noted that “Refusing to leave disobeys a court order and obstructs police in their duty to enforce.” They described these acts as criminal offences that have “serious long-term consequences.”
UTSU statement
At 2:48 pm, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) released a statement expressing their disappointment in Koehnen’s ruling.
“The decision of Justice Koehnen has set a dangerous precedent that hinders student expression and protest, fails to protect at-risk encampment members, and will have a chilling effect on future peaceful protests and student advocacy writ-large,” the statement read.
“We echo the sentiments of Occupy UofT’s legal counsel that the justice’s decision is not based on the contents of the protest, but rather on the applicability of private property laws.”
The union wrote that the right to private property has been historically used to limit the public’s right to expression or association on the grounds that “damage to an institution’s reputation or property supersedes that fundamental Charter right.”
The UTSU’s statement described the university’s effort to use “legal force” against the student protesters as “shameful,” noting that U of T has “once again chosen to stand on the wrong side of history, as they did with South African apartheid roughly 40 years ago.”
“Nearly 40,000 innocent civilians have been killed in Palestine; a number comparable to UTSU’s membership: the entire full time undergraduate population at the University of Toronto St. George,” it read.
“Our university is directly complicit in funding these deaths. We demand divestment.”
Rallying for Palestine
At 3:30 pm, O4P organized a rally in collaboration with Palestinian Youth Movement Toronto and Toronto 4 Palestine — groups advocating for Palestinian liberation — as well as CUPE Local 3902 — a union representing over 10,000 of U of T’s contract education workers — who demonstrated support for the student encampment.
Around 200 protesters formed a circle in front of Simcoe Hall and began chanting “No peace on stolen land, justice is our demand,” “From Turtle Island to Palestine, occupation is a crime,” and “What’s appalling? U of T stalling.”
O4P spokesperson Sara Rasikh, a master’s student studying social justice education, addressed the crowd. She explained that the protesters planned to march around King’s College Circle and walk down King’s College Road.
“We are here because we are outraged at the ongoing genocide in Palestine,” she said. “We refuse to stand idly by while our tuition money is invested in weapons manufacturing companies that kill Palestinian women, children, men, and people.”
By 4:40 pm, protesters began walking around King’s College Circle chanting, “The more they try to silence us, the louder we will be.”
Protesters then flooded King’s College Road with flags and banners until stopping just before College Street.
Around 5:00 pm, O4P held a press conference between U of T’s Lassonde Mining Building and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering building to discuss their next steps.
O4P spokesperson and recent economics graduate Mohammad Yassin told the crowd that the student protesters planned to leave before the court’s deadline to avoid a potential police escalation.
“We are departing from the People’s Circle for Palestine earlier than the 6:00 pm deadline set by the court,” he said. “We refuse to give the Toronto Police Service any opportunity to brutalize us.”
“As we depart, we send this message to the University of Toronto and to the world: We are just getting started,” Yassin said. “We demand action, not lip service. And as we’ve said all along, we demand commitments, not committees.”
Erin Mackey — an O4P spokesperson and recent political science and environmental studies graduate — also spoke during the conference.
“Since the establishment of the People’s Circle for Palestine 63 days ago, the university administration has made their position very clear,” she said. “President Gertler and U of T’s Governing Council do not care about the ongoing genocide and decimation of Palestinian lives.”
Rasikh addressed the crowd at the press conference as well, describing the encampment as “just one tactic in our vast toolbox.”
“Our campaign continues, stronger and more determined than ever,” she said. “We’ve started targeted outreach to alumni, and come fall, every incoming student will hear our message loud and clear.”
After the press conference, protesters continued their march down College Street, up St. George Street, and turned right on Bloor Street to head towards Bay Street where they ended their march.
U of T’s response
At 5:05 pm, the university released an FAQ page on the encampment and injunction ruling.
It mentioned that Justice Koehnen “found that protesters have appropriated Front Campus from the University and prevented others from using it for more than 50 days, further noting that such a loss of use amounts to irreparable harm.”
The FAQ also stated that Front Campus will remain closed for several weeks for “rehabilitation work,” and that the university plans to reopen the space by the end of the summer.
At 6:16 pm, U of T President Meric Gertler issued a statement to The Varsity.
“I am pleased that the protesters have ended the encampment peacefully so that Front Campus can be restored and returned to the entire community,” he wrote. “Members of our community continue to be free to exercise their right to free speech and lawful protest at the University of Toronto.”
