On May 1st, a group of students began camping out on UVic’s quad to protest the ongoing bombardment in the Gaza region of Palestine by Israeli forces.
The encampment has been dubbed ‘People’s Park UVic’.
“History will not look kindly on those that stood by the genocidal and illegitimate settler-colonial project of Israel,” said a media liaison for People’s Park UVic.
“After months of our protests and advocacy work being ignored by UVic administration, we will continue to stand our ground and the encampment will remain indefinitely until the university agrees to our demands and divests from genocide.”
Of note, although the actions of the Israeli forces in this conflict have been decried by numerous experts and reputable organizations as genocidal, it has yet to be declared as such by the United Nations or the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
However, the ICJ did order Israel to comply with immediate and effective humanitarian measures to protect those in Gaza from genocide, and thus far Israel has yet to do the bare minimum, according to Amnesty International.
Those protesting at People’s Park UVic say they will not be leaving until the university acknowledges their demands.
They list their five demands as follows:
- To divest from all investments connected to companies that contribute to and benefit from the genocide of the Palestinian people. This includes companies such as Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems Ltd., Scotiabank and BlackRock.
- To have UVic’s Board of Governors boycott, divest from and sanction Israel. They say this includes cutting ties with Israeli institutions and Zionist academics.
- To have Kevin Hall, President of UVic’s Board of Governors condemn the actions taken by Israeli forces in Palestine and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire publically.
- To have UVic affirm Palestinians’ right to resist and their right of return—an internationally recognized right to have the freedom to leave your own country and return to it.
- To have UVic make its campus safe and to refrain from penalizing students, faculty or staff for protesting. The protesters are also asking UVic to keep police off the campus.
UVic’s response
In response to the demonstration, Uvic has stated that the safety of their students, staff, faculty and community is their top priority.
“We are taking a calm and thoughtful approach to this demonstration and will work to minimize disruptions,” UVic said in a statement on May 1st as they became aware of the demonstration.
“The university supports peaceful demonstrations and the right to freedom of expression.”
The university also stated that they want their campus to be a place where students, staff and faculty can debate ideas, so long as they stay within the confines of their institutional policies and are free of hate speech.
UVic says they have campus security, Saanich Police and Oak Bay Police on hand to “support a safe and inclusive environment.”
On May 2nd, UVic acknowledged the demonstration had grown into an encampment.
“While the university has not yet received any direct communication from participants, we are open to dialogue,” said UVic in a statement.
“We are hopeful that we can continue the productive dialogue we have begun on the topic of divestment.”
To this, the People’s Park UVic media liaison says that they became aware of the fact that UVic’s administrators were unaware of their demands following the camp’s establishment, but they provided the demands on May 2nd.
The university says they support their students and the members of the broader community in their right to protest; however, the university also stated that the encampment is infringing upon its policies which prohibit erecting tents, temporary structures and overnight encampments.
For the time being, UVic says they will be allowing the encampment to remain, but they will be closing all campus buildings and locking them between the hours of 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. to try to keep their facilities safe.
More to come as UVic says they will be posting another update on the situation on May 3rd.
