Calgary students speak out on police brutality – Canadian Dimension

On May 9, we joined a group of students and community members to protest the University of Calgary’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Our demands were simple: The university must disclose its investments and divest from companies involved in Israel’s violation of Palestinian rights.

After hours of peaceful protests on the University of Calgary campus, the Calgary police arrived with body armor, batons, shields and guns and threatened us with trespassing charges. Emboldened by the success of student camps on university campuses across Canada, we insisted on our right to protest. At the same time, this enormous show of force by the police made us realize that we had to make some concessions. The officers told us we could stay as long as we took down the tents. Under duress, this seemed to be the only option we had. We then spent an hour dismantling our camp, believing that this would give the police no reason to harm us.

After removing all the tents of the camp without provocation, the police launched a sudden and violent attack on what was left of our peaceful gathering. They charged at us, hitting us with batons and shields, and firing pepper balls and grenades at us. They threw protesters, including students, to the ground and brutally beat them. Several people suffered concussions. A mother of two students had a rib broken by the police.

Since that night, the Calgary Police Department and its Chief of Police, Mark Neufeld, have repeatedly misled the public about the events of that day. During a Police Commission meeting on May 29, Neufeld claimed he was unaware of any injuries resulting from the police action, even though officers took two people in ambulances. He repeatedly stressed that there was no problem with the protest and that the legal issue was due to the encampment. However, by the time of the police attack, all of the tents had already been dismantled. He also accused us of inciting the violence, claiming that the protesters pushed the officers and grabbed their signs, forcing them to intervene. This is not true. The officers accused us without provocation.

Neufeld repeated this misinformation publicly and to the Police Commission, thereby covering up what may have been the worst act of police brutality against peaceful student protests in the history of this city.

Our encampment did not have to end in violence. Students from other institutions continue to hold peaceful encampments on campuses across Canada. We cannot allow police impunity to encourage further violence against student encampments. We demand accountability from Police Chief Neufeld and University of Calgary President Ed McCauley for the inexcusable brutality that occurred that night.

There are several publicly available videos that show the truth about what happened, including three live streams that captured most of the incident. Many of these videos are accessible on social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter).

The Calgary Student Movement continues to demand that the University of Calgary divest from companies complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip and end its complicity with Israel’s violent settler-colonial regime.

Keegan Colwell is an English student at the University of Calgary and a member of the Calgary Student Movement.

Emily Beckley recently graduated from Mount Royal University with a degree in sociology and is a member of the Calgary Student Movement.

Léo Hooper studies anthropology at Mount Royal University and is a member of the Calgary Student Movement.

Dania Samih is a student at the University of Calgary and a member of the Calgary Student Movement.