TORONTO: Pro-Palestine protesters breached a fenced area and set up an encampment at the University of Toronto, in the early hours of Thursday. They vowed to stay there until the university divests from companies with military links to Israel and cuts ties with certain Israeli universities.

The protesters moved in at around 4am and set up a few dozen tents on the lawn at the university’s King’s College Circle. They managed to navigate around the fencing that the university had erected to prevent an encampment.

Meanwhile, police vehicles arrived at the scene but no clashes have been reported, as of yet.

Student leaders say protesters decided to start the encampment after their occupation of the university president’s office did not yield any substantive results.

They argue that if the university has divested from South African apartheid, and from fossil fuels, then why does it refrain from doing the same in the case of Palestine.

The university issued a statement on Friday, saying protest is allowed so long as no law and/or rules are violated in the process.

The statement read that while the university “respects the rights of members of our community to assemble and protest within the limits of the law and U of T policies”, the activity should not interfere with the ability of students and faculty to learn, teach, research and work on the campuses.

“Those who contravene university policy or the law risk the consequences, set out in various laws and policies such as the Code of Student Conduct, which could include suspension” the statement said.

The university also distributed leaflets to protesters on Thursday morning. The leaflets set out expectations for peaceful protest, with no disruption to scheduled university activities and no structure of any sort.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2024