Alberta premier ‘glad’ Gaza protest in Calgary ended as encampments escalate

Premier Danielle Smith says she’s pleased the University of Calgary moved to have police dismantle an on-campus pro-Palestinian protest and hopes the University of Alberta will take note. 

Smith’s comment comes as the head of the University of Calgary said the dismantling of the encampment Thursday night derailed into a clash with police because of counter-protesters. 

Also Friday, a similar protest that began with one tent at the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton mushroomed to about 35. 

Smith, speaking at an unrelated news conference in Calgary, said her government is on hand to help if asked but will otherwise leave decisions of what to do with the protest encampments up to the universities. 

She said peaceful protest is fine, but rules must be followed and students’ education should not be disrupted. 

“I’m glad that the University of Calgary made the decision that they did,” Smith said. 

“I think what they found in Calgary is that a large number who were trespassing were not students, and we have to be mindful of that. 

“Kids are having graduation ceremonies. A lot of these kids didn’t get a graduation ceremony for high school. It’s not fair for them or their families to be disrupted.” 

She added, “I’ll watch and see what the University of Alberta learns from what they observed in Calgary.” 

The Calgary protest began early Thursday, as shelters and fencing were erected as part of the encampment. 

The university issued protesters a trespass notice. When they would not disperse, police were called in. 

The protest reached a peak of about 150 people in the early evening. By about 11 p.m. most had left, but the small number that stayed clashed with officers. Police set off flashbang explosives and tear gas and made arrests. 

“Unfortunately, counter-protesters showed up — also putting themselves in violation of our policies and in a trespass situation,” University of Calgary president Ed McCauley said in a statement. 

“The situation very quickly devolved into shoving, projectiles being thrown at officers and – ultimately – flashbangs and arrests.” 

McCauley said the university respects and values protests within the confines of the school’s safe operation. 

Calgary Chief Const. Mark Neufeld said the protest was peaceful to begin with, but several people there, who were not students, were known to take part in other protests.

“There were individuals from the very start that were saying, ‘We’re not leaving.’ There was every indication there was a group of people that didn’t plan to leave,” said Neufeld.

He said flashbangs and tear gas were used because officers were being pelted with glass bottles.

“That’s where the escalation was at the end, where there was a small group of people that were throwing things and grabbing on to the police,” he said.

“People were throwing projectiles at the police, refusing to comply with the lawful direction that had been given.

“Enough was enough.”

Neufeld said five people were arrested and three of them were charged. All were released from custody.

About 150 pro-Palestinian supporters returned to the University of Calgary Friday afternoon but there were no tents or barricades.

Many sat in lawn chairs. Others sat on the grass listening to speakers and occasionally chanting “Free, Free Palestine.”

A rock, painted in the Palestinian colours of black, white and green, included a number of messages including “70,000 kids killed” and “2.2 million starving.”

Canada’s special representative on combating Islamophobia said on social media that the Calgary police approach to the demonstration was “jarring.”

“A terrible message is being sent to generations of Canadians who were taught to believe in our democracy, in our freedoms, & taught to stand up for what they believe in,” Amira Elghawaby wrote.

The protest was one of several recent demonstrations on academic campuses in Canada and the United States in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza. 

Many protesters have demanded institutions make clear if their investments are helping fund Israel and its military in its conflict with Gaza. If so, they want those investments halted.

In Edmonton, tents were set up on a grassy area of the University of Alberta campus. There were Palestinian flags, both cloth versions and hand-painted cardboard ones. 

“At the very beginning yesterday, it was one tent and four people. And it has just grown and grown and grown,” said David Kahane, one of the protest organizers. 

Kahane, a political science professor at the university, said the protest is about students holding their institution to account in the “slaughter that is happening in the West Bank and Gaza.” 

He said students are inspired by time-honoured protest methods. Campus protests and calls for divestment helped end the racist apartheid system in South Africa, he added. 

The university has warned protesters that while it respects free speech, they are trespassing. Edmonton police say they are prepared to respond to matters of public safety.

In St. John’s, about 50 people laid down outside on the chilly concrete at Memorial University for a 76-minute “die-in” demonstration against what organizers say is Israel’s 76-year occupation of Palestinian territory. 

During the demonstration, a protester read names of Palestinians killed in the war. 

“A die-in like this is minuscule compared to the amount of terror and fear and pain the Gazan people (have been) going through for years and years,” said organizer Aramaria Yetman.

McGill University in Montreal is seeking a court order to have a protest encampment there dismantled. It has been up for two weeks.

University president and vice-chancellor Deep Saini said in a statement the school is concerned about safety, as neither university officials nor firefighters have been able to enter the camp to ensure it is following health and safety regulations.

Saini also said the camp has attracted protesters on both sides of the Israel-Hamas war, and that has increased tensions on campus.

He added the camp is also in an area where graduation ceremonies for most faculties take place.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2024. 

— With files from Bill Graveland in Calgary and Sarah Smellie in St. John’s 

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press