Pro-Palestinian protesters abide by court order requiring them to dismantle, leave encampment at U of T

A protest that occupied the centre of the University of Toronto campus for two months and drew attention to the plight of Palestinians in Gaza came to an end ahead of a court imposed deadline to leave Wednesday, as students dismantled their tents and filed out of King’s College Circle.

Some wept, some embraced, some expressed frustration at having to change direction, but the protest leaders vowed to carry on their campaign by different means.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Markus Koehnen granted an injunction this week that authorized police to clear the protest site by 6 p.m. Wednesday. A few hours before, however, the once-bustling encampment was already barren and abandoned.

Students and supporters from labour unions and the university faculty held a rally as several hundred gathered outside the university administration building in the last hours before the order was to take effect.

Sara Rasikh, a graduate student and encampment organizer, said it was no longer a question of whether the University of Toronto will divest, but when.

The protesters have been seeking three things: that the university disclose where its money is invested; that it divest from weapons manufacturers connected to the Israeli military and that sustain what they describe as Israeli apartheid; and that it break ties with Israeli universities that operate in the occupied territories.