Around 25 protesters from the Palestinian solidarity encampment blocked the University Boulevard and Wesbrook Mall intersection Wednesday morning.
Around 8 a.m., protesters blocked the intersection, shutting down traffic and causing several buses to be rerouted, according to TransLink. Campus Security directed traffic through the surrounding areas as a dozen RCMP vehicles parked along Wesbrook Mall.
“Israel bombs, UBC pays,” protesters chanted. “Disclose. Divest. We will not stop. We will not rest.”
A banner placed on a tent in the intersection read “UBC’s investments enables the ongoing scholasticide in Gaza.” UN experts have expressed concern about the prospect of scholasticide in Gaza.
- UBC community begins Palestinian solidarity encampment
- Campus protests, building occupations spark after UBC statement on encampment demands
- Protestors occupy President’s Office, call on UBC to give additional statement on encampment demands
Some faculty members attended the blockade with the intention of documenting police activity, according to a professor at the protest.
Close to 11 a.m., a dozen Vancouver Police Department vehicles arrived on campus.
RCMP warned protesters to clear the intersection over a loudspeaker. Protestors gathered their things as police officers formed a line and began walking forward. Police trailed slowly behind protesters who moved down University Boulevard into campus.
One protester, later identified as West Vancouver activist and UBC alum Susan Bibbings, held an effigy of an infant wrapped in a burial blanket and stopped moving forward at the crosswalk before the AMS Nest. Police told Bibbings and the media filming her including The Ubyssey, they would be arrested if they did not move off the road.
After Bibbings refused to move, police placed her under arrest.
While waiting for a police car to transport her, Bibbings was seated, in handcuffs, on the road. As a police officer tried to engage her in a conversation about her detention, Bibbings turned to the media and began chanting “Free, Free Palestine.”
“I will not tolerate a genocide,” she said,
Five police officers carried Bibbings into the back of a police car soon after.
At 11:30, around 35 protestors marched through campus and stopped outside the Buchanan complex. RCMP stood nearby protesters called for divestment and an end to Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
Protesters reached Flag Pole Plaza before noon as Chan Centre graduation ceremonies were underway. RCMP formed a line across Cresent Road. A drone was hovering overhead.
Graduates emerged from the ceremony around 12:30 p.m., one graduate wearing a keffiyeh joined the demonstration at Flag Pole Plaza. Some graduates took photos with their families near the Rose Garden as protesters continued to chant.
Around 1 p.m., protesters marched through Main Mall and down to the UBC Bookstore, where the demonstration ended..
A protester thanked those who came out and said this showed UBC that there is “no business as usual when there is a genocide.”
The Ubyssey did not hear back from protest organizers Peoples University UBC or UBC Media Relations by publishing time.
Share this article
First online
