Court grants U of T injunction against pro-Palestinian encampment

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 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 July 3 to clear the encampment. He also authorized police to arrest and remove anyone believed to be contravening the order.

“We trust that those in the encampment will abide by the court order and vacate the encampment before the court-imposed deadline. Anyone who chooses to remain in the encampment after that deadline will be subject to consequences under university policy and the law,” the University of Toronto said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

The university applied for the injunction in late May but it took several weeks for the case to be heard. In its application the university was seeking a judicial order that would authorize police to evict the protesters. It had argued that the protesters were trespassing and that they infringed on the rights of other people to use the space and express themselves.

The 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. The fence was intended to dissuade a protest from forming after a wave of pro-Palestinian encampments swept across university campuses in the U.S. and other parts of Canada in late April.

There were about 50 tents in the camp initially but the number of protesters grew over several weeks to more than 150 by late May.

The protesters have 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 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 agree on a resolution.

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