It’s now been one month since a pro-Palestinian encampment was set up at the “People’s Park” at the University of Victoria campus.
This encampment has been able to hold its ground despite many other universities across the country clearing out their encampments.
The university and the protesting students have talked twice about demands from protesters and what the university can do to meet the protester’s demands of total divestment from any Israeli entity.
Students say they are now waiting for the university to take material action on their demands after meeting with administration staff on Friday.
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A current university graduate protestor who asked to remain anonymous told CHEK News on Saturday that they are not going anywhere until the institution makes some significant investment changes.
“We need to see an agreement the feels like it was built in trust that seems like it is something they can tangibly commit to doing, that will also have a material [effect] towards ending the genocide of the Palestinian people,” said the protester.
Despite conversations possibly heading in the right direction, protesters at the UVic campus say the institution may change their mind and follow the direction of other colleges and universities across the country
The anonymous protester added that “we are looking to prepare.”
“We see these examples of other schools, we see the examples of police raids, injunctions being filed, injunctions not passing through the court, and we are studying these cases with the best of our abilities as students.”
In the latest UVic statement on Friday, the vice president of finance and the vice president academic/provost said that they are planning to continue discussion with students and that they hope that it is just the beginning of a series of meetings in order to come up with a solution. The statement ends saying that the institution will continue to provide updates on the situation as the meetings progress.
Despite the perceived optimism from both sides, the anonymous protester said that “we feel pretty confident that we are able to handle whatever is thrown at us.”
According to United Nations, as of May 31, 1.7 million people have been internally displaced and more than 36,000 people have been killed in the Gaza strip.
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Tchadas Leo
