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STUDENTS ELECTED TO VACATE TABARET LAWN DUE TO THREAT OF LEGAL ACTION

On July 9, student organizers at the encampment for Palestine voluntarily began taking down the tents, posters, and flags on Tabaret Lawn, signalling an end to the ten-week-long encampment. 

U of O Protection Services arrived at Tabaret Lawn around 12:30 a.m. on July 10, where debris, graffiti, paint, signs, and fences had been strewn on the steps of Tabaret Hall. A few individuals were seen cleaning up and taking down tents and materials, and just a handful of tents remained inside the barricades at time of publication.

In a press release to the Fulcrum, Occupy Tabaret organizers cited “legal action and police violence at student encampments across the country” and a halt in negotiations with U of O administration as factors in vacating the encampment.

INSAF organizer Sumayya Kheireddine told the Fulcrum, “We left because we wanted to … this round of negotiations [has] ended.”

Two days ago, protesters seemed to escalate their actions by erecting plywood barricades that blocked the sidewalk in front of Tabaret Hall. As of publication, these barricades remain standing but the Fulcrum is told they will be cleared by organizers in the coming days.

Before its dismantlement, the U of O encampment had been one of the longest standing encampments in Canada. Encampments at the University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, and McGill University were dismantled in the past week due to administrative threats of police violence. The U of O encampment has seen heavy police presence, especially during community rallies, but was not raided by police like some of its counterparts. Police did however enter the camp just before midnight on July 7, where they removed the lock that protesters had placed on the doors of Tabaret Hall. No arrests were made.

However, the University of Toronto’s injunction was granted by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on July 2, permitting police to forcefully clear the encampment at King’s College Circle. U of T students vacated the premises before the court-ordered deadline; Mohammad Yassin, an encampment organizer and recent graduate, told reporters, “We refuse to give the Toronto Police Service any opportunity to brutalize us.”

Last week, students participating in the U of O protest shared that the injunction and the subsequent threat of police violence made them fear for their safety. On June 27th, the encampment organizers and community members held a press conference to call attention to the university’s threats of issuing trespass notices and slow progress on negotiations.

Organizers have not shared what their plans are in terms of negotiations with the university, but concluded their press release with “Until liberation and return, our spirits will never be broken. We will not stop, we will not rest.”

• With files from Andrew Wilimek
• This article was corrected at 2:23 p.m. on July 10, to add context to the statement that the camp was not raided by police like some of its counterparts. “Police did however enter the camp just before midnight on July 7, where they removed the lock that protesters had placed on the doors of Tabaret Hall. No arrests were made.” was added.