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Court grants U of T injunction against pro-Palestinian encampment
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Open this photo in gallery:
A drone view of the pro-Palestinian encampment after a convocation
ceremony at U of T in Toronto, on June 3. An Ontario judge said in a
decision issued Tuesday that protesters will have until 6 p.m. on July
3 to clear the encampment.Carlos Osorio/Reuters
The University of Toronto has been granted an injunction against a
pro-Palestinian encampment, clearing the way for what the university
hopes is an orderly end to a two-month long demonstration that has
occupied part of its campus.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Markus Koehnen said in a decision
issued Tuesday that protesters will have until 6 p.m. on Wednesday to
clear the encampment. He also authorized police to arrest and remove
anyone believed to be contravening the order.
The court's decision will be closely watched at other universities,
including McGill University and the University of British Columbia,
where encampments are still in place.
The U of T encampment began on May 2, when protesters broke through a
fence the university had erected around the green space at the heart
of King's College Circle. It was part of a wave of pro-Palestinian
encampments that swept across university campuses in the U.S. and
other parts of Canada in late April.
Open this photo in gallery:
A protester in the Pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of
Toronto on July 2. An Ontario court has granted an injunction to the
University of Toronto to clear the encampment on school property.Chris
Young/The Canadian Press
University of Toronto president Meric Gertler said in a note to campus
Tuesday that a letter has been sent to Toronto police requesting their
assistance if the encampment is not cleared by the deadline.
"We expect those in the encampment to abide by the court order and
vacate the encampment before the court-imposed deadline. Anyone who
chooses to remain in the encampment after the deadline is subject to
consequences under university policy and the law," Dr. Gertler wrote.
He added that the university welcomes protest and vigorous debate.
"Today's court order returns Front Campus to the entire university
community and prevents any one group from asserting control of a
shared space at the university in order to promote a particular view
and deprive others of the freedom to express opposing viewpoints."
Leaders of the encampment said that despite the legal setback, they
would continue to push their demands. They declined to say whether
they intend to abide by the court order, but after the decision was
issued more than 100 protesters gathered to discuss its implications
and their course of action.
"This encampment is just one tactic and we are prepared to employ as
many as necessary to achieve our demands," said Sara Rasikh, a
graduate student and encampment organizer.
In its application, the university argued that the protesters are
trespassing and that they've infringed on the rights of others to use
Front Campus. The protesters countered that they have a right to
protest and that a university campus should not be viewed simply as
private property but as a space where debate can occur.
Justice Koehnen sided with the rights of the university as a property
owner.
"In our society we have decided that the owner of property generally
gets to decide what happens on the property. If the protesters can
take that power for themselves by seizing Front Campus, there is
nothing to stop a stronger group from coming and taking the space over
from the current protesters. That leads to chaos," Justice Koehnen
wrote.
There were about 50 tents in the U of T camp initially, but the number
of protesters grew over several weeks to more than 175 tents by late
May.
The protesters made three demands: that the university disclose where
its money is invested; that it divest from weapons manufacturers
connected to the Israeli military and that sustain what they describe
as Israeli apartheid; and that it break ties with Israeli universities
that operate in the occupied territories. The university
administration engaged in several negotiations with encampment
representatives but they were unable to reach a resolution.
Open this photo in gallery:
A tent in the Pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Toronto,
on July 2. There were about 50 tents in the U of T camp initially, but
the number of protesters grew over several weeks to more than 175
tents by late May.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Justice Koehnen wrote that the injunction will still preserve the
right to protest on campus but will not allow camping overnight. He
said the university had not made a strong prima facie case that the
encampment is violent or antisemitic, but he said there was a strong
prima facie case that protesters had taken over university property.
He said the protesters were unable to point to a case where a court
has allowed someone to take over a public space for an extended period
of time. He said a 50-day occupation is significant, and although
there have been signs of progress in negotiations, the protesters have
said they will not leave until their demands are met.
"If unchecked, this in effect means that the protesters can hold the
university to ransom," he wrote. "As passionate as the protesters may
be about their cause, they do not have the unilateral right to decide
how Front Campus can be used by their exercise of force, occupation or
intimidation."
In his ruling, the judge referred to a moment in the court hearings in
June when a lawyer for the university argued for the right to eat
breakfast on Front Campus, which gave rise to some derisive laughter
in the public gallery. But that example gets to a central issue about
who gets to make decisions about conflicting claims to the use of a
space, he wrote.
"The university's approach here is to make Front Campus available to
everyone, including to those who just want to eat breakfast, while at
the same time making the entire campus available to protesters
provided they do not appropriate or block access to university
property," he wrote. "This is consistent with the underlying
foundation of liberal democracies: as much liberty as possible so long
as one person's liberty does not unreasonably infringe on the liberty
of others."
Rabbi Seth Goren, chief executive of Hillel Ontario, said on behalf of
a broad coalition of Jewish advocacy groups that he was relieved the
university could finally remove the encampment, which he characterized
as hateful and disruptive.
With a report from Fatima Raza
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