The University of Calgary Students’ Union is calling for an independent review into the police response at the pro-Palestinian encampment earlier this month.
The union says multiple students were injured, and the impacts of what happened are still being felt on campus.
Meantime, at the Calgary Police Commission’s meeting Wednesday, Calgary police Chief Mark Neufeld said police wanted to make sure students were properly informed, but admitted police should have intervened earlier.
“Looking back to me, as I look at it , one of the key things is when a truck load of pallets pulls up and is being unloaded, there should be an intervention to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he said. “But again, that is one of the things we’ll take away from this.”
During the meeting, one commissioner asked why police didn’t act sooner.
“The reality of it is, some of the people that were there, we know from dealing with them every weekend, they know this, right,” Neufeld said. “So, some of the people are going to make their own decisions and they’re going to leave or not.”
Police used pepper balls to help break up the crowd which, at its peak, was estimated to be around 150 people.
The police service says it received over 45 compliments for how it handled the incident while the commission got over 1,300 letters.
So, far only one formal complaint has been filed.
During the meeting, PhD student Kaitlin Anderson asked why the ‘freedom protestors’ were along to continue on for months, but the pro-Palestine encampment was torn down in just a day.
Neufeld said it’s complex.
“This is not about skin colour, it’s not about ideologies, or political beliefs, or whatever,” the police chief said. “There’s lots of polarization in the community around these events, but at the end of the day there is a right to protest. It’s our job to support those rights and to help facilitate that right for sure.
“There are differences depending on where it is and the context and what kind of impact those protests and the activities are having.”
-With files from Tiffany Goodwein