Pro-Palestinian protesters set up tents at Western University in London

Article content

Protesters set up tents on Wednesday afternoon at Western University amid a wave of pro-Palestinian protests spreading across college and university campuses in Canada and the United States.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Pro-Palestinian protesters set up tents at Western University in London Back to video

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

Free Press reporter Jack Moulton and photographer Derek Ruttan provided updates on the developing story that began at noon and wrapped up 12 hours later:

11:45 p.m.: Protesters take down tents, head home

Tents set up at noon by pro-Palestinian protesters outside the University Community Centre at Western University have all been taken down, as protest organizers said they would be before midnight.

About a dozen people remain as they pack up their things. A Western student said the tents started coming down at 10:30 p.m.

Some students said they were disappointed not to hear from Western president Alan Shepard or senior administrators about their demands the university cut ties with companies linked to Israel and condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza and anti-Palestinian racism on campus. The students say there were offered a meeting with Western’s equity, diversion and inclusion office.

8:55 p.m.: Protest starts to wind down as night falls

The number of protesters hasn’t changed much, but a protest organizer says some people will likely start to go home because it’s dark now, “but some people will be committed to stay all the way to midnight.”

Organizers are pleased with the turnout of protesters despite less than 12 hours notice, he said. Future encampments will likely be held at Western if protesters’ demands are not met, the organizer said.

“This is the first time (we’ve done) it ever in this university’s history, this is the baseline now. So future events will compare to this one.”

London police and Western have been checking in to make sure everything is safe and in order, the organizer said.

“As you can see, we don’t have any riots or anything. Everything’s going well. . . . this is a safe methodology of amplifying our voices.

7:30: Protest moves to Western Road

A large group of protesters return to the University Community Centre after marching to Western Road. The protesters, many of them wearing keffiyehs, chant “All Zionists are racist, all the Zionists are terrorists” as they return to the encampment. The keffiyeh is a checkered scarf typically worn in Arab cultures that has come to symbolize, in part, solidarity with Palestinians.

Organizers pass out pizza and then Wasef Yasin, a friend of Omar Barzak, who died Friday in a crash on Highway 401, speaks. A Western graduate, Barzak, 24, was recently in Lebanon with Human Appeal, a non-profit organization collecting food and donations for displaced Syrian and Palestinian families. Barzak also was a member of Al-Asala Dabke Group, a dance group based in London with more than 1.3 million followers on Tik Tok.

“Part of me, of course, is sad that we have to be here, but another part of me is happy that we have an amazing community, an amazing group of people here at Western that are fighting the good fight,” Yasin said. “Very different than the people in those buildings upstairs, the administration of Western that was unfortunately on the wrong side of history. . . .

“I know if (Omar was alive), he would have loved to see the crowd here.”

5:30 p.m.: A break to pray

Some protesters get on their hands and knees on tarps and rugs near their tents on a lawn outside the University Community Centre as they say prayers.

4:50 p.m.: On the march

A few dozen protesters begin marching toward McIntosh Gallery and loop around University College before returning to the community centre. Some hold Palestinian flags as they address Western president Alan Shepard in a chant: “Alan Shepard shame on you, Western is our campus too.”

4:15 p.m.: What the protesters are demanding

A protest organizer who declined to give his name because of fear of retribution from the university said the protest was organized by Western students and alumni, and is being promoted by the London chapter of the Canadian Palestinian Social Association. There’s also an Instagram group called Western Students 4 Palestine.

About 100 protesters have set up about a dozen tents on the lawn outside the University Community Centre near the western edge of campus. The organizer said protesters started setting up tents at noon and plan to stay until midnight. Protesters don’t expect trouble from police because they are being peaceful and the protest is temporary, the organizer said.

Protesters are demanding Western cut ties with companies that have links to Israel and that the university condemn what they call Israel’s “illegal occupation” of Gaza and anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism on campus.

A Palestinian student who is graduating this summer from Western said the goal of the protest is to raise awareness.

“You know, just opening people’s eyes to the issue. . . . You’re seeing different people (protesting), different class, colour, race, ethnicity. So this issue affects everyone.”

4:05 p.m.: An activist speaks

Tarek Loubani, an outspoken London doctor known for humanitarian efforts in Gaza, addresses protesters.

“Sometimes I feel like I can do nothing,” he said. “Sometimes I believe the lie that I’m powerless. But that my friends is a lie. You are a bunch of nobodies sitting on a lawn nowhere and yet if you stay here, the police will come. That is not because you are powerless. That is because you are powerful.”

Loubani was charged in November by London police with mischief after a Liberal MP’s riding office in the city was vandalized by sprayed ketchup weeks earlier.

2:48 p.m.: Western University’s statement

John Doerksen, Western’s vice-provost of students, said the university is talking with protest organizers.

“We have affirmed their right to protest and indicated that we are here to work with them to ensure their activity remains peaceful and lawful,” Doerksen said in a post on social media.

Western’s special constables are “closely monitoring” the situation, he said, and the university is consulting with London police “as we would for any unsanctioned gathering.”

The university said organizers were told erecting tents isn’t permitted on campus.

“While dialogue and debate are welcome and encouraged – even on the most difficult topics – Western will not tolerate hate speech,” Doerksen said.

The background

The appearance of tents at Western comes after warnings this week by the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa to anyone planning to follow the lead of pro-Palestinian student activists in the U.S. and elsewhere in Canada that setting up encampments on campus will not be tolerated.

Campuses in the United States have seen a wave of protests in recent weeks linked to the Israel-Hamas war that started on Oct. 7, 2023.

Early protests at Columbia University in New York, where demonstrators set up tents in the centre of the campus, sparked pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the United States.

Pro-Palestinian student activists have set up an encampment on the grounds of McGill University in Montreal, where student activists from Concordia University are also participating.

Student activists at McGill have said they are demanding the school divest from Israeli companies that are “complicit in the occupation of Palestine.” They also expect the school to cut academic ties with Israeli institutions.

– with files from Canadian Press

Toggle full screen modePrevious Gallery Image

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

11. 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

Next Gallery ImageToggle gallery captions

View All 15 Photos

1 of 15

All 15 Photos for Gallery

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 

Function Not Available

Full Screen is not supported on this browser version.

You may use a different browser or device to view this in full screen.

OK