Pro-Palestinian encampment at University of Winnipeg comes down
The Pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Winnipeg was dismantled on Monday.
Protesters were seen packing up tents and taking away their gear this afternoon.
“Today we took down the camp,” a statement posted at the encampment said in part. “We would have removed the barricades but [University of Winnipeg] did not engage in any of our demands — including the demand that they not persecute us for protesting — so we had no assurances of safety.”
The statement added, “To our working class colleagues who will clean this up on the university’s behalf, we apologize.”
The University of Winnipeg said in an emailed statement to CBC News the encampment was disbanded and the decision for it to be taken down wasn’t communicated in advance with the school.
The encampment went up in mid-May, after protests on university campuses erupted across Canada and the United States. At the time, people at the U of W encampment said they were showing solidarity with Palestinians as violence in Rafah continued.
An organizer with the encampment told CBC News in mid-May that the encampment would remain until the university met the demands of protesters.
The statement posted at the encampment on Monday said the work of those who were there is “far from done.”