Pro-Palestinian protesters at both Winnipeg campus encampments demand transparency from their universities
Posted May 11, 2024 5:48 pm.
Last Updated May 11, 2024 8:27 pm.
Student-led protests continued at separate pro-Palestinian encampments at two Winnipeg universities Saturday, with protesters joining forces for a march.
Hundreds gathered for a rally that began at the University of Manitoba campus before making its way to the University of Winnipeg.
“Up, up with liberation. Down, down with occupation,” the protesters chanted.
Students from both institutions are continuing to call for transparency and peace.
“I came to school here in 2017,” said UM student Zahra Rizvi. “The word ‘Palestine’ wasn’t even mentioned. The word ‘Israeli-Arab’ was referred to as Palestinians, and so we felt like there was a space that was needed. I feel like I finally found that space. It feels great to have not just people supporting us, but people actually helping us throughout the cause. It’s amazing. It’s a great feeling.”
Rizvi is one of many students who have been at the encampment at the University of Manitoba since it began Tuesday. The camp, which was originally planned for just three days, became permanent after organizers felt their demands were going unheard.
Because the encampment remained standing beyond Friday, a spokesperson for the University of Manitoba says an annual science festival for kids scheduled for Saturday, Science Rendezvous, needed to be cancelled.
The spokesperson did acknowledge the encampment protest has been peaceful throughout.
“UM supports academic freedom, the right of our entire campus community to engage in freedom of expression and the right to assemble and protest, in accordance with university policies and the law,” they told CityNews.
The student-led protester group continues to call for transparency in how university funding is being used. Talks are being held about a potential meeting between protest organizers and school administration next week.
For the time being, Rizvi says protesters are not going anywhere.
“This is a call to all students,” Rizvi said. “This is a call to all marginalized, racialized students who are affected. A lot of folks out here are allies, they’re not Palestinians but they are affected by institutional racism by hierarchal powers that do oppress them. So it’s really a show of belief that the power really does come from the bottom up and not the other way around.
“We really hope the university listens to us, the university gives us the autonomy to decide as students how we want to spend our most formative years on this campus and to listen to us.”
The rally at the University of Manitoba saw campus security present throughout the day, but it did not stop the group from marching and chanting in solidarity. The march was led by Hussein Chokr, who joined the encampment to teach methods of peaceful protesting.
“UMSU, UMSU, where are you? You should be here, too,” protesters sang, targeting the University of Manitoba Students’ Union.
At U of W, where the encampment is being called the People’s University of Palestine by protesters, about a dozen students gathered before being joined by the other group of demonstrators.
Students at the University of Winnipeg declined to provide CityNews with their names for safety reasons, citing alleged doxxing incidents.
“There have been attempts to doxx and socially punish people participating in this peaceful protest, so to keep each other safe, we’re keeping those details private, but we know each other well and safety is paramount here,” a student told CityNews.
“We are student-led but we do not restrict this encampment to only students of the U of W. We are all students of the People’s University of Palestine on Treaty 1 and we encourage anyone who wants to join us to come and join us, because we are all in this together.”
Protesters at the University of Winnipeg also want their institution to “disclose and divest” from Israeli institutions.
“I think what’s happening in Palestine has revealed for a lot of people the deep disorder of the world, where something so wrong which appalls so many can be defended by our leaders globally,” the student protester at U of W said. “That discord is pulling people together to find answers for why that is and what we can do about it.
“Our answer here is to join the universities who are camping out to demand that their institutions end their complicity in those harms.”
In a statement released Friday, the University of Winnipeg says setting up tents, temporary structures or overnight encampments on university grounds without approval from the university is prohibited.
The university adds campus security is “monitoring the situation carefully to ensure everyone remains safe,” and that spring term classes have not been interrupted.
“Our top priority is to ensure that students, faculty, and staff can continue teaching, learning, and research activities in a safe and respectful campus environment,” the university wrote.
