The RCMP began moving in on anti-Israel protesters disrupting the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus and surrounding area, including a hospital, at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday. The pro-Palestine encampment at UBC is one of many across Canada, including at the University of Toronto, the University of Ottawa and McGill in Montreal. Universally, Hamas-supporting groups have called for divesting from companies associated with Israel and cutting ties from Israeli universities. .On Tuesday, agitators that call themselves People’s University for Gaza at UBC notified the school if administrators had until 8 a.m. the next morning to meet all their demands. Before 9 a.m. Wednesday, with their demands not met, the existing protest escalated. The group congregated on the major intersection of University Blvd. and Wesbrook Mall, which blocked bus routes and roadways leading to a nearby hospital. By 11:10 a.m., the RCMP and Vancouver Police Department moved in and began making arrests. Twenty minutes later, at least three arrests were made..The People’s University released a statement on social media Tuesday accusing UBC President Benoit-Antoine Bacon of acting in poor faith when he presented at the House of Commons Justice and Human Rights Committee on Monday.“He reiterated ex-President Santa Ono’s rejection of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement and expressed continued opposition to it,” said the group. “He also spoke in favour of possibly adopting the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism, which has been widely criticized by scholars, academics and human rights groups globally for conflating legitimate criticism of the state of Israel with antisemitism.”It said Bacon’s recent statements on Parliament Hill "have unequivocally affirmed his opposition to the BDS movement, which we see as a blatant disrespect of our demands." It added these actions have cast doubt among students, faculty, and community members about his sincerity on having conversations. “We believe our demands represent the minimum actions necessary in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza," it said. "Bacon’s statements in Parliament come a day after an Israeli strike hit Teh Al-Sultan refugee camp in Rafah, massacring 45 people — mostly women and children and some of whom were burnt alive.”As violence continues to escalate in Gaza, it said it "will continue to escalate our efforts. "Unlike the university, our concern is not our public image, but the lives lost and violence against Palestine facilitated by the capital and complicity of our institutions," it said. "We will not stop until Palestine is free.”
The RCMP began moving in on anti-Israel protesters disrupting the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus and surrounding area, including a hospital, at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday. The pro-Palestine encampment at UBC is one of many across Canada, including at the University of Toronto, the University of Ottawa and McGill in Montreal. Universally, Hamas-supporting groups have called for divesting from companies associated with Israel and cutting ties from Israeli universities. .On Tuesday, agitators that call themselves People’s University for Gaza at UBC notified the school if administrators had until 8 a.m. the next morning to meet all their demands. Before 9 a.m. Wednesday, with their demands not met, the existing protest escalated. The group congregated on the major intersection of University Blvd. and Wesbrook Mall, which blocked bus routes and roadways leading to a nearby hospital. By 11:10 a.m., the RCMP and Vancouver Police Department moved in and began making arrests. Twenty minutes later, at least three arrests were made..The People’s University released a statement on social media Tuesday accusing UBC President Benoit-Antoine Bacon of acting in poor faith when he presented at the House of Commons Justice and Human Rights Committee on Monday.“He reiterated ex-President Santa Ono’s rejection of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement and expressed continued opposition to it,” said the group. “He also spoke in favour of possibly adopting the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism, which has been widely criticized by scholars, academics and human rights groups globally for conflating legitimate criticism of the state of Israel with antisemitism.”It said Bacon’s recent statements on Parliament Hill "have unequivocally affirmed his opposition to the BDS movement, which we see as a blatant disrespect of our demands." It added these actions have cast doubt among students, faculty, and community members about his sincerity on having conversations. “We believe our demands represent the minimum actions necessary in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza," it said. "Bacon’s statements in Parliament come a day after an Israeli strike hit Teh Al-Sultan refugee camp in Rafah, massacring 45 people — mostly women and children and some of whom were burnt alive.”As violence continues to escalate in Gaza, it said it "will continue to escalate our efforts. "Unlike the university, our concern is not our public image, but the lives lost and violence against Palestine facilitated by the capital and complicity of our institutions," it said. "We will not stop until Palestine is free.”
