People gather and pitch tents at a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver on April. 29.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
A months-long pro-Palestinian encampment at Vancouver Island University has been dismantled following a court order.
Protesters had until 9:30 a.m. Sunday to get off a grassy area in the university’s quad in Nanaimo, B.C. after the province’s Supreme Court granted the university an injunction last week.
In a video statement posted on the protesting group’s Instagram account, an unidentified protester said people in “hazmat suits” arrived when the injunction took effect and began dismantling the encampment, which has been in place for 110 days.
The encampment was one of many that sprang up on campuses in both Canada and the United States in response to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with participants demanding universities cut financial and academic ties with firms and institutions linked to Israel.
The protester said in the video statement that the demonstrators have to live with the knowledge that the university went to court to remove students rather than listen to their concerns.
However, they added they still plan to take up “other forms of protest.”
The university has yet to respond to Sunday’s developments. But the school issued a statement last week saying while it respects the right to peaceful protest, the court order ensures the campus quad is returned to the community and “prevents any individual group from occupying a shared space for extended periods of time to promote a single perspective.”
The court ordered that no further encampments be established within the same specific area for 150 days.