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Despite rainy weather, students determined to continue sit-in

Day 10 of the U of O student protest for Palestine was marked by speeches from Filipino allies and Dr. Yipeng Ge, as well as de-escalation training and internal organization meetings. Despite the rainy weather, students were determined to continue the sit-in, reenergized after negotiations with the university fell apart yesterday. 

The morning began with a shorter, 10-minute version of the organizers’ usual internal meeting, anticipating the site-wide town hall to come that evening. Town halls have become a staple of the encampment schedule, used for checking in on members and also providing feedback about protest logistics.

A small group of around 10 attendees, led by INSAF president Sumayya Kheireddine, circled up beneath tarps to share their thoughts on a joint statement titled “Urgent Call to End the Encampment on the University of Ottawa” by the uOttawa Conservatives (CUOC) and the Ontario Young Progressive Conservatives. The statement, released that morning via Instagram, was addressed to President and Vice-Chancellor of the university, Jacques Fremont.

“We urge the University of Ottawa to take immediate action to ensure the encampment is ended and peacefully resolved and that terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, are never promoted on our campus to intimidate and incite hatred towards students and staff,” the statement reads.

A few hours later, the Ontario New Democratic Youth released their “Statement of Solidarity with Campus Protests”, supporting the nationwide protests. 

“Students and young people have historically been at the forefront of movements against injustice,” read the statement. “History remembers well on the young people who stood up against the Vietnam War, rejected racial segregation, and fought against the South African apartheid regime. History will similarly remember the students who are today demanding an end to the horrible violence in Gaza.”

At 12:30 p.m., attendees heard from Filipino ally Beth Dollaga, secretary general of the International Coalition of Human Rights in the Philippines, who spoke about the similarities between the struggle of Indigenous and Muslim Filipinos’ liberation with the freedom of Palestinians.

A de-escalation training for protesters followed shortly after, highlighting strategies attendees can use to diffuse tense situations such as confrontations with police or antagonizers. The training also included strengthening the anti-sexual harassment and anti-sexual violence policy, which continues to be revised before it is shared publicly. 

Between speeches, the “arts committee,” an informal group of attendees who keep track of paint supplies and manage the art tent, unveiled a new project: “The People’s Journal.” The journal is a space for attendees to note down their perspectives, reflections, and reactions while being at the sit-in/encampment. 

A committee member told the Fulcrum that The People’s Journal “hopefully [will] become a resource for future generations” and that its purpose was to “show the humanity of our gathering here.”

Around 3 p.m., administrators were seen removing a camera which was placed outside a window on the third floor of Tabaret Hall on May 3. 

Before the evening town hall, Dr. Yipeng Ge, a former medical resident at the U of O that was suspended in October because of his pro-Palestinian posts spoke to attendees about the malnutrition and starvation he witnessed as a physician with Humanity Auxilium on a medical trip to Gaza in February. 

“There, however, remains an inability — an unwillingness — by the majority of medical, healthcare, and public health professionals and organizations to call out an ongoing genocide by Israel, and the root causes of death and disease being colonialism, manifesting as the ongoing Nakba in Palestine,” said Dr. Ge, who refused to return to the U of O after being reinstated in January. 

The town hall, which was exclusive to attendees of the protest, crowdsourced suggestions for a revised code of conduct and escalation tactics. These proposals had already been discussed in smaller focus groups over the past few days before being brought to the town hall. 

The evening concluded with a prayer at sundown, followed by chanting. Attendees gathered into tents for the night, which were dry from the previous day’s efforts to clean bedding and reinforce structures for the day’s rain.