Gaza protesters remain as Vancouver Island University's deadline to leave expires

A deadline for pro-Palestinian protesters to dismantle an encampment at Vancouver Island University in Naniamo, B.C., has expired without the demonstrators leaving.

The university last Thursday issued a trespass notice to the protesters over the camp that has been in place since May 1, saying legal action would be launched if they did not leave by 8 a.m. Monday.

It says in an email that as of about 9 a.m. the protesters "(have) not decamped" and the university would be issuing a statement.

The protesters say in a social media post that they remain "steadfast" and that by issuing the deadline the university has chosen to put students at risk, "to villainize them and punish them for using their right to protest."

They say the university is "supposed to encourage critical thoughts" but is instead threatening students.

The university said in a statement last week that if protesters were not gone by the deadline, it would "take all legal steps necessary to remove them."

The trespass notice was issued after an Ontario court granted an injunction against a similar camp at the University of Toronto, leading to protesters leaving, which Vancouver Island University noted in its statement.

The university said the protesters had been escalating their actions, and had engaged in vandalism, disrupted an exam and occupied various buildings.

"These incidents have not only disrupted university operations but have also placed a financial burden on our institution and compromised the safety and security of our campus community," it said.

The camp is among a number of such protest sites at universities in Canada and the United States.

A camp at the University of B.C. in Vancouver was vacated by protesters voluntarily on July 7.

The protesters against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza have been demanding that universities cut financial and academic ties with Israeli firms and institutions.