The People’s Circle for Palestine has been active at the University of Toronto’s (U of T) St. George campus since Thursday, May 2. The encampment has received an outpouring of support, but some waves of counter-protests have also made their way to campus.
What has happened?
There have been many different manifestations of counter-protests. Some of the time, Zionists show up, wave an Israeli flag, and then leave. There has also been occasional vandalism of the pro-Palestinian signs hanging on the fences around the encampment. As Kalliopé Anvar McCall, an OccupyUofT media liaison, noted:
“I have seen a few Zionists write on our signs. The ones where we’ve written ‘Free Palestine’ have been vandalized with the words ‘From Hamas’ underneath. Things like that. They’re definitely around and they have sharpies on them and they’re ready to vandalize.”
Another “Free Palestine” sign around the encampment was seen to have been vandalized with the words “No, uh-uh” on it.
However, other reports of incidents are more worrying. On Red Dress Day, an event for commemorating and mourning the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women across the Canadian state, a white woman yelled at an Indigenous woman drumming and singing. She shouted through a loudspeaker, “Get out of our country, you are wrecking it!”
According to an OccupyUofT post on Instagram, the Jewish Defense League (JDL) has shown up to counterprotest multiple times. The JDL in many countries, including the United States, is a listed terrorist organization. At one point the director of JDL Canada, Meir Weinstein, showed up on campus to counter-protest. Anvar McCall had this to say:
“Yesterday the JDL turned up in the afternoon with about 10-15 people. The FBI has listed them as a terrorist organization, although they are not designated as such in Canada. But that is incredibly troubling and they have been yelling insults at us. One of them threatened that he wanted to behead people in this encampment.”
The same agitator who threatened to behead people was reported by OccupyUofT as having followed vulnerable students to nearby bathrooms that same night. When students ran to provide safety, the agitator physically assaulted them and threatened them with a broken beer bottle.
Some other reports include lone-wolf Zionists threatening to come back during the night and prevent the students from sleeping, as well as jump over the fence and physically assault them. Anvar McCall says:
“We have received threats of that kind. We’re definitely on our toes at all times but we won’t let this intimidate us or distract us from the reason that we’re here, which is for the administration to meet our demands around divestment and an academic boycott of this genocide.”
What has U of T done to protect its students?
OccupyUofT has expressed their dissatisfaction with Campus Police at failing to protect students and faculty who take part in the encampment. Their statement regarding counter-protests includes:
“While U of T put up fences to protect a patch of grass, we, the students, have been strategically using those fences to defend ourselves from zionist violence and protect our right to protest. Our community has rallied time and time again to keep each other safe. Students and staff have shown up hour after hour to protect each other from zionist agitators and cops alike. We are deeply grateful for the community support we have received. Police do not keep us safe. We keep us safe!”
What can the community do to help?
Anvar McCall states that the community has been wonderful so far. Regarding what else the community can do to help, she adds:
“There is a lot the community can do. We’re asking our community members to be on stand-by and keep updated with our social media (@occupyuoft on Instagram and Twitter/X). We might call some emergency rallies if we feel like we’re really unsafe.”
When the university threatened to shut down the encampments, over a thousand community members came to show support. The university then sent an email saying they would let the encampment stay for at least the night. “It was a huge success in my book,” says Anvar McCall.
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