Pro-Palestinian protesters meet with U of T administration
School issued trespass notice on Friday, giving demonstrators until Monday to clear encampment
Pro-Palestinian protesters who have been camped out at the University of Toronto for weeks met with school officials on Sunday, hours before a Monday deadline that the university set for clearing the encampment.
The meeting came after the university issued a trespass notice to the protesters on Friday.
U of T has said it will take "all necessary legal steps" if the protesters don't clear out by Monday at 8 a.m.
The notice, which was issued under Ontario's Trespass to Property Act, threatens to seek a court order against the camp.
The encampment was set up on May 2 at the heart of the university's downtown campus, part of a massive wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at post-secondary institutions in Canada and the United States.
Organizers called on the university to cut its ties with Israel, divest from companies profiting from Israel's offensive in Gaza, and terminate partnerships with the country's academic institutions deemed complicit in the war.
The school made an offer to the protesters on Thursday, which organizers say doesn't meaningfully address their demands.
Earlier on Sunday, protesters said they planned to present a counter-offer to the school at the meeting.
Graduate student Sara Rasikh said those at the encampment had planned to ask the university for immediate disclosure of public investments it has in companies that those at the encampment accuse of profiting from Israel's war in Gaza.
On Oct. 7, Hamas and other militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's offensive in Gaza against Hamas has killed nearly 36,000 Palestinians, according to officials in the Hamas-run enclave.
When it comes to private investments, the protesters want to form a joint working group with the university rather than move forward with an ad hoc committee the school proposed, which Rasikh said could drag out the divestment process and end with no action.
Rasikh says the protesters had also planned to ask for the university to cut ties with the Hebrew University and with the Technion, an Israeli technological university.
According to the protesters, Hebrew University operates in "illegally occupied" East Jerusalem, while Technion is involved in developing weapons for the Israel Defence Forces.
On Friday, the university said it would not end any partnerships with Israeli universities.
According to the university, claims have been made that connect U of T to Israeli military action in Gaza. Claims have also been made suggesting that President Meric Gertler has confirmed that the school has investments in weapons manufacturing companies.
"Such claims have no basis in fact," the university said in a statement on Sunday.
At a news conference Sunday morning, Mohammad Yassin, a student with family in Gaza, said the group also wants the university not to discipline students, faculty members, librarians and staff involved in the encampment. It also wants the university not to work with police to pursue criminal charges and to withdraw civil litigation against participants.
"We are not in a position where we can waste another three weeks arguing over bureaucratic details of a process that will end in nothing," Yassin told reporters.
"We are planning to stay here until we get a commitment to our demands," he said.
Students 'unlawfully' occupying campus, school says
In a message to the U of T community on Friday, the university said the students are "unlawfully" occupying a part of campus.
"The fundamental principle of inclusion — one that extends to physical space on our campuses — has been violated," the message reads.
Gertler, for this part, has also said convocation, which is a formal celebration of graduation, begins on June 3 and the university is determined for the ceremonies to proceed as planned.
"We will proceed with convocation no matter what," he previously said.
The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) issued an open letter on Saturday, saying labour workers support the demonstrators.
"As the voice of Ontario's labour movement, the OFL unequivocally supports the right of students to engage in peaceful protest on campus, as they call for a ceasefire and divestment from companies that are complicit in war and occupation," OFL president Laura Walton said.
With files from CBC News