University of Calgary students are being joined by faculty members as they advocate for their right to peacefully protest during an afternoon rally.
Dozens marched across the UCalgary campus Tuesday afternoon in a demonstration against police officers actions while responding to a Pro-Palestinian encampment earlier this month.
Speakers, including education professor Shirley Steinberg, talked about the importance of allowing students to exercise their right to peaceful protest. She also equated the police response on May 9 to “violence” and “injustice.”
“We’re starting to see now that so many people here, and the administration, do not want to hear us,” she says. “Some of our colleagues were hurt, that are not young.”
“It made me realize what kind of university we are dealing with.”
Officers who responded to the protest are being condemned in an open letter that has been signed by over 600 faculty, staff and alumni. The letter addressed to UCalgary president Ed McCauley alleges a use of “brutal force against young students peacefully protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”
Students set up tents on the south lawn of MacEwan Hall that Thursday morning, calling for the university to divulge and divest its interests in Israel, among other things. At its peak, there were around 150 people taking part.
The students union recently put forward a motion to the board of governor’s calling for an independent investigation into the events of May 9.
Immediately after the removal of the encampment, police chief Mark Neufeld defended the responding officer’s actions. He claimed the protestors had been warned after throwing projectiles at officers and called their response completely justified.
Neufeld said in an update the following day that five people were arrested and three were given violation tickets as officers removed the protesters.
In a statement to CityNews, the University of Calgary says it supports free speech for all members on campus, and supports “the right to peaceful protest.”