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Police cleared a pro-Palestine encampment on the University of Alberta quad early Saturday morning after the university claimed it “put the university community’s safety at risk.”
Videos posted by encampment organizers on social media showed police striking protesters with batons, arresting protesters and using what organizers claimed were tear gas and pepper bullets. Edmonton police said officers did not deploy tear gas, but confirmed “special munitions” were used and that three people were arrested, one of whom is charged with assaulting a peace officer.
U of A president Bill Flanagan said in a statement early Saturday morning that city police were asked to assist in enforcing a trespass notice. He said at the time police cleared the encampment, there were around 40 tents and 50 people and that “to the best of our knowledge” less than a quarter of those assembled were U of A students.
“The vast majority of those present complied with the police direction and decamped peacefully from university property,” Flanagan wrote. “Unfortunately two individuals without any connection to the University of Alberta did not comply with the request to vacate and they were removed.”
Flanagan claimed there were no injuries.
Flanagan said the university supports free expression but protests cannot have temporary structures or remain on campus overnight. He said university officials grew concerns when some organizers allegedly brought in wood pallets, which Flanagan said are highly flammable and are “known to be used as barricade making materials.”
Postmedia has reached out to protest organizers for comment.
“As other institutions faced similar situations over the past weeks, we have witnessed how quickly they can escalate and become volatile. Overnight protests are often accompanied by serious violence and larger crowds amplify those inherent risks — especially as they attract counter-protestors or outside agitators.”
“I want to be clear that approved, peaceful protests are welcome on our university campuses — but they must also proceed in accordance with the university’s policies. And they cannot violate the law or public safety regulations.”
Edmonton police spokesperson Scott Pattison said the final trespass notice was given at 4:35 a.m. and that police arrived on site shortly after.
“Protestors were warned again to leave, and following this, protestors were escorted from university property.”
Organizers, who dubbed themselves “People’s University for Palestine YEG,” said they were calling on both U of A and MacEwan University to disclose “institutional and financial investments” with Israeli institutions and companies and divest from those holdings. They also demanded the university give “amnesty to any and all participants” of the encampment and declare “its condemnation of this genocide and call on the Canadian government to end all military contracts with the Zionist state.”
The move comes one day after the violent dispersal of a similar camp at the University of Calgary.
More to come.
