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INVOLVEMENT INCREASES AS WEATHER WARMS

Friday, May 3 marks the fifth day of community encampment in solidarity with Gaza at the University of Ottawa. Originally beginning as a sit-in on Monday, April 29, INSAF, the Palestinian Students Association (PSA) and protesting community members have been present on Tabaret Lawn for nearly a week.

Encampment attendees told the Fulcrum early in the afternoon that the number of tents has grown to just over 50, a sizable increase from the estimated 25-30 tents from yesterday. This brought the total of students encamping to between 100 and 120.

The daily morning meeting was held between volunteers and encampment attendees around 11 a.m.; key discussions pertained to food safety, dishwashing, and efforts to increase accessibility for the tent areas. Throughout the day, organizers worked to expand the demonstration area, drawing up plans to space out the tents to create walkways, and looking into high-flying tarps to shield the tents from rain expected later this week. 

Organizers also began looking into acquiring portable toilets to make bathroom access easier during the nights. In the daytime, attendees use the bathroom in nearby buildings, but as night falls, the doors to those buildings are locked, requiring many to walk further to find a restroom.

Attendees also observed what looked to be a camera set up by administrators on a third-floor window of Tabaret.

On the evening of May 2, a separate meeting was held so organizers and university administrators could discuss safety concerns. Although the meeting did not address the issues of divestment and the students’ demands, one of the outcomes was the administration offering to call in a fire marshal for an inspection. Organizers tell the Fulcrum they are attempting to request city firefighters for the inspection to avoid university fire marshals entering the encampment.

A fire alarm was pulled at Tabaret Hall at around 12:15 p.m. — seemingly unrelated to the encampment — prompting firefighters to examine the perimeter and employees to evacuate.

The warm weather also brought out passersby and others in the community, who shared the lawn with the protestors, playing frisbee, soccer, and football. 

In the early afternoon, the University of Ottawa Muslim Students Association (uOMSA) published a statement on Instagram, expressing their “profound disappointment” with the university administration’s response. 

The uOMSA discussed that in previous talks with the university president and vice-chancellor, Jacques Fremont, he promised to “maintain open channels with students impacted by Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism”. However, they deem follow-up to be insufficient.

“On behalf of the Muslim community on campus, the uOMSA extends its unequivocal support for the students peacefully protesting and their constitutional right to do so as they call for complete divestment from all pro-genocidal corporations funded by the University of Ottawa,” the statement reads.

The uOMSA statement argued that the university cannot maintain claims for reconciliation and decolonization while continuing to “indirectly fund Palestinian oppression whilst maintaining that its students are the occupiers in this situation.” The uOMSA concluded by urging the university to meet INSAF’s request for a meeting to discuss their demands of full disclosure and divestment. 

The Jumaa prayer and subsequent Khutbah commenced at 2 p.m., with the khatib speaking about Islamophobia and the duty that Muslims in Canada have to speak up for Muslims in Palestine.

At 3:30 p.m., the president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE), Nathan Prier, spoke to protestors. At CAPE’s general meeting on April 30, a motion unanimously passed in support of the U of O encampment, the Fulcrum confirmed.

Prier discussed how labour and mass refusal were important tools to protest with the “need to stop asking the perpetrators to stop, we need to force them to stop.” 

”We won’t collaborate, cooperate, or equivocate with genocide, apartheid, or settler colonialism,” Prier said.

The day progressed calmly, with the only counter-protesters being a group of three people who waved Israeli flags on the steps of Tabaret; they left after half an hour.

Around 5 p.m., families from the community set up picnic blankets on the lawn and started chanting with the students. Between chants, some attendees worked on creating beaded earrings, embroidering keffiyehs, and making posters. Posters around the encampment read “Bothered by the encampment? Look away like you do for genocide” and “Solidarity fuels us.” Attendees also painted small canvases with Palestinian symbols, while an organizer spoke about the historical significance of those symbols.

As the evening came to a close, organizers began to prepare for a large rally for Palestine that is planned to stop by the encampment on Saturday, May 4.