The BC Civil Liberties Association says it isn’t very impressed with recent police action at pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country.
Vibert Jack, the association’s director of litigation, says peaceful protest is fundamentally important to democracy, but many police forces seem to be overstepping.
“Freedom of expression is one of the most fundamental and core rights that we have and is necessary for a healthy and properly functioning democracy, and protest is an important form of expression,” Jack told CityNews.
Jack specifically addressed the pro-Palestinian demonstration on the UBC campus, which popped up as a protest encampment and has now occupied a campus sports field for more than a month.
“Obviously it’s causing a disruption there and maybe some discomfort for other people that are on campus, but I think that’s just really a necessary part of full protest if you’re trying to make a real change, there’s always going to be some disruption,” he said.
At some point, Jack says, it is appropriate for police to become involved, but he doesn’t think this was the case so far at the UBC demonstration, where one person was arrested on Wednesday.
“As far as I can tell, I don’t think that there was any kind of violent clashes or anything with the police, which we’re thankful for,” he said.
Jack says police need to be intervening in a way that is ‘content-neutral,’ which hasn’t been happening.
“Generally, we’ve seen across the country that they seem to be acting more swiftly with more force, using the Criminal Code inappropriately in cases that involve solidarity with Palestine and protests to that effect,” Jack said.
He says the association feels law enforcement has been treating those protests differently across the country.
“That creates a chilling effect for people who are trying to stand in solidarity with Palestine.”
The pro-Palestinian encampment at UBC was the first of three similar camps to spring up across B.C. in response to Israel’s actions in its war with Hamas.