The UCalgary students and other community members involved in the protest were part of a broader movement at campuses across the United States and Canada calling for their institutions to disclose investments and divest from those implicated in Israel’s genocidal war.

These encampments lasted for varying amounts of time, but few, if any, were shorter lived than the one at UCalgary.

Before anyone had the chance to stay overnight, Calgary police officers stormed onto campus dressed like they were going to war. The cops violently dismantled the protest camp, firing 15 pepperball rounds and four pepper grenades at the participants and using a degree of physical force that gave at least two protestors traumatic brain injuries.

The university’s preparations for the encampment would be undertaken strictly from the perspective of pro-Israel students and community members, with the presumption that any protest against Israel’s actions is by definition antisemitic and creates a hostile environment for Jewish people.

On May 14, law professors from UCalgary and UAlberta wrote an open letter to the presidents of their universities, the Calgary and Edmonton police services, and the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service arguing that the universities and police forces violated the encampment protestors’ Charter rights.

“We are further concerned by the excess force and violence with which the Calgary Police Service and Edmonton Police Service cleared the camps,” they added. “Video evidence suggests that police officers used force that went far beyond that which was necessary to effect law enforcement purposes.”