On August 8, UofT Occupy for Palestine (O4P) protesters staged an occupation on the ground floor of the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation (UTAM) headquarters on 777 Bay Street. 

The occupation comes after O4P’s 63-day encampment at King’s College Circle, where student protesters called for U of T to disclose its financial holdings, divest from companies supplying Israel with weapons, and cut ties with Israeli academic institutions. Protesters cleared the encampment peacefully and negotiated with the university to be granted amnesty in exchange. 

Protesters decided to stage an occupation of UTAM: the company in charge of investing U of T’s endowment portfolio. This is O4P’s first reappearance since ending the encampment and promising a return. 

In a media release, the protesters stated that “the students are back and are diversifying their targets and tactics.”

The protest began at 12:30 p.m., as students began a sit-in inside the building’s lobby by the elevators. Chants included “Free, free Palestine,” “You are funding genocide,” and “No justice, no peace.” 

Around 12:50 p.m., dozens of Toronto Police Service (TPS) officers entered the building. Protesters were threatened with a trespass notice, with some recalling office workers speaking to security in support of the students’ right to protest. 

Sara Rasikh, U of T graduate student and O4P spokesperson, wrote to The Varsity about the events during the protest. 

Rasikh mentioned that some workers in the building “joined the action, while others showed their support by clapping.” She also recalled some workers telling her that they would “send emails to other workers in the building, highlighting UTAM’s complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.” 

“We were not given a physical trespass notice. The police verbally informed us that we had been ‘given the notice’ and then proceeded to move in,” said Rasikh.

TPS officers then began a rapid sweep of the lobby, pushing student protesters out of the space, telling them “it’s time to go.” 

Police then formed a line outside the building, blocking anyone from entering. The occupation lasted around 45 minutes. 

Recent U of T graduate and O4P spokesperson Mohammed Yassin said in O4P’s media release that its protests are “not defined by the spaces we occupy but by the principles we uphold.”

“We have lit a flame of resistance that will not be extinguished by court orders or police threats,” said Yassin. “This is just the beginning.”

TPS did not respond to The Varsity’s request for comment in time for publication.

Editor’s Note (August 26, 3:20pm): A previous version of this story incorrectly associated the workers in support of the protesters with UTAM. This story has been updated to reflect that the workers were not affiliated with UTAM but at 777 Bay Street at the time of the protest.