Dismantling protest not worth the chaos

The Spring 24 Kaffiyeh Collection was in abundant display inside Courtroom 4-8.

- ROSIE DIMANNO

The U of T encampment is encircled by a fence, guarded by marshals who decide who goes through the Checkpoint Charlie gate.

It's all the accessory rage these days. Particularly chic when paired with black pumps and silk trousers, as one woman coordinated her ensemble.

I have several versions of the scarf myself, though I wore it primarily for utilitarian purposes protection against choking during sandstorms in overseas desert terrain battlefields.

And once I got pulled off an El AI flight out of Tel Aviv for having it wrapped around my neck. Forgot I still had it on.

No political statement intended. As is clearly the case for the protesters who have for 49 days now occupied the encampment at King's College Circle, main quad on the University of Toronto's downtown campus.

Perhaps they got an unescorted day pass to decamp temporarily and attend the injunction hearing Wednesday at the downtown courthouse, where the university is seeking to have the cantonment of some 180 tents dismantled after negotiations with the students - and not all of the squatters are students have gotten nowhere.

In interviews, some of the protesters have boasted about being in situ since Day 1 and, collectively, they've vowed to stay put for as long as it takes to arm-twist the university administration into meeting assorted demands.

Most centrally to cut ties with Israel by divesting from companies profiting from Israel's offensive in Gaza in a war that has raged for eight months Israel's military retaliation for the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas but also to terminate academic partnerships between U of T and Israeli universities deemed complicit in the war.