People take over a field with tents during a student encampment for Palestine at the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver on Monday, April. 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
VANCOUVER – Police have cleared pro-Palestinian protesters from a main intersection at the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver.
The intersection of University Boulevard and Wesbrook Mall was clear by 12:15 p.m., though several unoccupied RCMP vehicles were parked nearby.
Video posted shortly after 11 a.m. by an account associated with the protests had showed dozens of uniformed officers walking down the main route.
The Instagram account called “People’s University for Gaza at UBC” had earlier posted an update asking people to gather for a rally at the intersection.
The person who picked up the University RCMP non-emergency line around midday directed media questions to the university.
Cst. Tania Visintin with the Vancouver police says the department was asked to go on “standby,” and video posted by the protest group showed Vancouver police vehicles near the intersection, but Visintin says they did not deploy any officers.
Pro-Palestinian protesters have been occupying a sports field on the campus since April 29, the first of three similar encampments to spring up in the province.
Protesters at UBC as well as the University of Victoria and Vancouver Island University have called for the schools to end financial and academic ties with Israeli companies and institutions they say are complicit in the “genocide” of Palestinians.
A spokeswoman for UBC said earlier this week that the school had no update to its May 16 statement from president Benoit-Antoine Bacon, which called for “productive dialogue with members of the encampment to work toward a peaceful resolution.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2024.
