Juno News - July 04, 2024


Pro-Palestine protesters ERUPT in downtown Toronto


Episode Stats

Length

13 minutes

Words per Minute

203.62439

Word Count

2,678

Sentence Count

236

Misogynist Sentences

2

Hate Speech Sentences

2


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Why are we not starting for Palestinians?
00:00:02.200 Once proud school, now it's shameful.
00:00:05.260 My man is going to be returned for me, my baby.
00:00:09.740 Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
00:00:17.520 Alright, well, it's Harrison Falcon reporting for True North.
00:00:20.460 We're at King's College Circle, where for the last two months,
00:00:23.740 there has been an encampment here, right in this park behind me,
00:00:27.120 full of tents and full of Palestinian flags.
00:00:29.600 The goal of the encampment here was to have the University of Toronto
00:00:33.020 divest from their investments in Israel, in Israeli companies.
00:00:38.300 Now, I want to just point out a few things, because what time is it now?
00:00:40.820 It's 5 o'clock in an hour.
00:00:42.640 That is when the deadline to clear out this circle is enforced.
00:00:46.740 That's when the Toronto police are going to come in and clear it out.
00:00:48.680 But look, there's basically nothing here already.
00:00:50.300 Everybody's left.
00:00:51.320 It's ironic, because you think if they were protesting a genocide,
00:00:54.680 if it was really such an important cause,
00:00:56.800 you might think they'd stand their ground a little bit
00:00:58.620 and actually hold the circle.
00:01:01.080 But they've obviously fled.
00:01:02.380 I also want to point this out to you as well.
00:01:04.580 We have here lists of documents.
00:01:06.280 These are obviously the court orders telling these protesters at the time,
00:01:09.740 protesting that the circle is up.
00:01:11.580 Here's one right here.
00:01:13.600 An Ontario Superior Court of Justice court order.
00:01:16.220 And over top, as you can see,
00:01:18.040 over on pen has been written,
00:01:19.320 there is no private property on Indigenous land.
00:01:22.140 Very interesting here.
00:01:24.300 It's funny, because you would think, again,
00:01:26.220 if this is Indigenous land,
00:01:27.560 why would a bunch of students,
00:01:29.780 the University of Toronto,
00:01:30.660 and maybe non-students who are clearly not Indigenous,
00:01:33.000 occupy land which they claim to be Indigenous?
00:01:35.340 I also want to point one more thing out to you.
00:01:36.800 We might be able to see them now.
00:01:38.020 We've got helicopters in the sky.
00:01:40.100 Just prior to recording,
00:01:41.640 there were Toronto police surveillance drones
00:01:43.940 taking footage of what was going on here.
00:01:46.420 It seems as though everybody who's been protesting
00:01:48.580 has now marched off either to Queen's Park or to someplace else.
00:01:51.840 We're going to try to find them, see what happens.
00:01:54.360 But we also want to make sure we're here at 6 o'clock
00:01:56.360 when this gets opened up.
00:01:58.440 If we don't get no justice,
00:02:00.560 then they don't get no peace.
00:02:02.360 If we don't get no justice,
00:02:04.640 then they don't get no peace.
00:02:06.380 My name is Major Retired Paul Willis.
00:02:08.000 I just finished 33 years Canadian Forces.
00:02:10.520 My uncle fought for the 48th Islanders against the Nazis,
00:02:13.240 and when I see Nazis in the streets of Canada,
00:02:15.800 it upsets me.
00:02:16.660 And that's why I'm here, just to...
00:02:18.600 And I'm also an alumni of this university,
00:02:21.800 and a student of Continuing Studies,
00:02:23.440 but I quit because of some of the hatred and venom
00:02:25.920 that the professors were spooing at Israel
00:02:28.060 and the Jews in general.
00:02:29.400 So it's unfortunate,
00:02:31.300 but maybe one day I'll be able to come back
00:02:33.120 and be at this once proud school.
00:02:35.640 Now it's shameful.
00:02:37.360 Well, as a former student
00:02:38.300 and as someone who was in the Continuing Studies program,
00:02:40.960 what have you made of how the university has handled this?
00:02:42.780 Because from my perspective,
00:02:44.140 two months of having the centerpiece of this university
00:02:47.680 occupied in tents,
00:02:49.180 it seems as though they were basically letting it go on.
00:02:51.480 It's been shameful how he handled it.
00:02:52.980 It was very cowardly,
00:02:54.440 and he's way past his prime.
00:02:55.820 He needs to resign.
00:02:56.620 This should have been shut down day one, hour one.
00:02:59.400 I'm also upset with the Toronto Police Services
00:03:01.340 because the deputy inspector,
00:03:03.940 and forgive me, I forget his name,
00:03:05.000 but he suggested that he couldn't clear the protesters
00:03:08.040 because U of T let them stay too long,
00:03:11.040 which is horse s**t,
00:03:12.220 and he's just passing the buck.
00:03:13.860 They should have had the courage to come in here
00:03:15.480 and clean them out without the injunction.
00:03:17.440 Elected members of Parliament
00:03:18.500 and people in important positions
00:03:20.340 like those in the Toronto Police Service
00:03:21.940 seem to be trying to appease this group of people.
00:03:25.520 We've seen some shocking messages from them.
00:03:27.400 It's really unbelievable,
00:03:28.760 but how does that make you feel as a former veteran?
00:03:30.220 Yeah, it's really painful,
00:03:32.500 and I feel for my veterans too,
00:03:34.100 and they hate this.
00:03:34.700 They can't speak out.
00:03:35.860 Excuse me, my fellow soldiers,
00:03:37.080 and they're still serving a lot of them.
00:03:38.120 They can't speak out.
00:03:39.020 I can.
00:03:39.600 There's no more muzzle on me,
00:03:41.900 and rightly so.
00:03:42.500 We don't speak out when we're in uniform.
00:03:43.820 Now I'm out of uniform.
00:03:45.360 And for the politicians,
00:03:47.040 they're pandering to votes.
00:03:48.140 They're pandering to a small amount of people,
00:03:49.900 and they think they're going to garner votes for this
00:03:51.660 when, to be honest,
00:03:53.000 I think the vast majority of Canadians,
00:03:55.280 be they Jewish, Christian, Muslim, whatever,
00:03:58.040 do not support this.
00:03:58.920 They've all come down to block the entrance,
00:04:01.700 to block the entrance of the university.
00:04:03.080 I want to show you this here.
00:04:04.220 They brought a large crowd out here.
00:04:05.380 As you can see, they've got unions.
00:04:07.840 They've got all these different flags.
00:04:10.300 They've got the Palestinian flags, naturally.
00:04:13.220 I wouldn't be surprised if we see some LGBTQ flags as well,
00:04:16.740 not as though,
00:04:17.200 not as like the Palestinians actually support them,
00:04:19.300 but it is important to show that
00:04:20.800 they might just try to block the entrance
00:04:23.100 and not let anyone actually in
00:04:24.980 to try to clear out the encampment.
00:04:26.920 A remarkable act of cowardice
00:04:28.740 to flee the place
00:04:30.160 where they had been standing for two months
00:04:31.660 when actually this is the day
00:04:33.300 the police are coming to clear them out.
00:04:34.800 Like I said,
00:04:35.400 if you're going to be protesting a genocide,
00:04:36.900 you might think that
00:04:37.560 standing your ground for a day
00:04:39.160 might be worth the cause,
00:04:40.700 but not for them.
00:04:41.360 It seems that they want the visual,
00:04:42.900 they want the big scene.
00:04:44.380 That's what they're going to get.
00:04:45.060 We are leaving the space,
00:04:46.260 we are leaving things called
00:04:47.300 Circle on front campus for now,
00:04:49.680 but we will continue our protest
00:04:51.740 and you can watch as we watch along the shore.
00:04:53.680 They're predicting that the police
00:05:04.500 was going to use this opportunity
00:05:05.680 to brutalize them
00:05:06.640 because of the injunction.
00:05:08.400 And you know the injunction said
00:05:09.600 there was no anti-Semitism,
00:05:11.360 there was no violence,
00:05:12.720 but it came down to property rights.
00:05:14.920 So it's private property.
00:05:16.420 And the police decided
00:05:17.460 they would enforce
00:05:18.520 private property rights,
00:05:21.620 which is weird.
00:05:22.340 You don't think the circle
00:05:24.100 is private property?
00:05:25.600 It is private property,
00:05:26.800 but the police,
00:05:27.940 the public police,
00:05:29.300 oh, I know that.
00:05:30.800 But the police are public
00:05:33.540 and why are they working
00:05:35.220 for a private institution?
00:05:37.540 You see what I'm saying?
00:05:38.160 It's our tax dollars.
00:05:40.100 Why are we,
00:05:40.740 why are they hired,
00:05:42.060 are we paying them
00:05:43.080 to move people out?
00:05:45.300 You see what I'm saying?
00:05:45.960 Do you want that?
00:05:47.200 Well, I would just say that
00:05:48.280 if there are a large number of people
00:05:49.580 on private property who, okay.
00:05:51.820 Oh, I know.
00:05:52.340 Whatever you say.
00:05:53.060 Just don't, just don't.
00:05:54.840 So you realize that
00:05:56.140 they think you're going to edit
00:05:58.100 everything I say.
00:05:59.060 Oh, no, no.
00:05:59.860 We just want to be able to talk to you.
00:06:00.760 No, but they really think
00:06:01.720 that you're going to twist the truth.
00:06:03.580 Well, let's smile for the camera here.
00:06:04.860 Hold on.
00:06:05.220 What do you think
00:06:06.020 has been accomplished
00:06:07.480 by occupying
00:06:08.680 King's College Circle
00:06:09.720 for two months?
00:06:10.600 Anything?
00:06:11.180 The more that people know
00:06:12.640 about the apartheid regime
00:06:14.260 and the brutality
00:06:15.760 of that apartheid regime.
00:06:18.040 I mean,
00:06:18.440 we stood up for South Africa.
00:06:19.840 Why are we not
00:06:21.040 studying for Colston yet?
00:06:22.220 This painful people
00:06:23.160 will now know your face
00:06:24.260 and they will twist
00:06:25.340 whatever you say
00:06:26.080 using editing.
00:06:26.840 They will not...
00:06:27.880 Oh, sorry, ma'am.
00:06:29.400 I just wanted to ask you
00:06:30.580 why you wanted to talk with us.
00:06:32.540 Well, that was very interesting.
00:06:33.440 So we just interviewed
00:06:34.060 a woman who answered our questions.
00:06:35.680 We wanted to just speak with her
00:06:36.600 about what brought her out here.
00:06:37.620 Not many people
00:06:38.520 want to speak to us,
00:06:39.680 but that woman in a black mask,
00:06:40.840 she was interrupting the woman
00:06:43.340 saying,
00:06:43.900 don't speak with us,
00:06:44.560 don't speak to True North.
00:06:45.480 And then we just wanted
00:06:46.040 to ask her what she had to say.
00:06:48.360 And as you saw there,
00:06:49.320 she slapped the camera,
00:06:50.760 tried to slap it out of my hand.
00:06:52.340 Very interesting behavior.
00:06:53.980 What brings you out here today?
00:06:55.180 I like to understand firsthand
00:06:56.640 what's going on
00:06:57.420 with my own eyes and ears
00:06:58.240 so I don't fall for
00:06:59.140 propaganda, fake news.
00:07:01.720 I love your True North.
00:07:03.840 I love your True North channel.
00:07:05.120 Oh, I appreciate that.
00:07:05.980 Appreciate you too.
00:07:06.940 What do you make
00:07:07.420 of what you've seen so far?
00:07:08.600 You wanted to observe?
00:07:09.420 You obviously were walking
00:07:10.780 here with the crowd.
00:07:12.140 What do you make of what you...
00:07:12.780 I'm not walking with the crowd,
00:07:13.540 I'm walking on the sidewalk.
00:07:14.380 On the sidewalk, right.
00:07:15.260 Yeah, of course.
00:07:16.020 How do you think
00:07:16.660 the encampment has gone
00:07:18.060 now that people have left,
00:07:19.620 packed up?
00:07:20.100 What do you think you've accomplished
00:07:21.000 or the people here
00:07:21.700 have accomplished?
00:07:23.920 Honestly, I don't think...
00:07:25.000 Yeah, I don't.
00:07:28.320 You can go speak to them.
00:07:30.180 You don't want to talk?
00:07:31.960 Hi, ma'am.
00:07:32.560 Can you explain your sign?
00:07:33.760 I don't like October 7th.
00:07:36.940 IDF was shooting
00:07:37.880 from helicopter.
00:07:39.420 At festival doors.
00:07:41.980 So what do you think
00:07:42.500 you guys accomplished
00:07:43.160 after two months?
00:07:44.800 We want free Palestine
00:07:46.560 and free university education.
00:07:48.980 Has it happened yet?
00:07:50.100 It's gonna happen.
00:07:51.300 We will not give up.
00:07:52.820 My name is Harry, right?
00:07:54.080 Harrison, that's right.
00:07:55.440 Nice to meet you.
00:07:56.100 What's your name?
00:07:57.460 I know.
00:07:58.140 He knows my name.
00:08:01.300 I feel famous.
00:08:02.200 What a success.
00:08:03.380 What about you, sir?
00:08:04.100 Would you like to answer
00:08:04.640 a few questions for us?
00:08:06.920 Free Palestine.
00:08:07.680 They won't speak to us.
00:08:09.320 They will...
00:08:09.920 Hi there, ma'am.
00:08:10.600 How are you?
00:08:11.420 How are you?
00:08:12.300 What brings you out
00:08:13.060 to the protest today?
00:08:14.640 I'm here in this house, ma'am.
00:08:16.600 And how do you...
00:08:17.140 Do you think the protest
00:08:17.800 has been successful?
00:08:18.660 Very successful.
00:08:19.860 If there was no protest,
00:08:21.140 they would have not been here.
00:08:22.420 Have the university...
00:08:23.300 given in to any of your demands?
00:08:27.980 No, I'm just asking questions.
00:08:30.880 Just wanted to...
00:08:31.820 Oh, God.
00:08:33.920 Oh, yeah.
00:08:34.440 I'm just wondering
00:08:34.960 how people think the protest
00:08:35.900 has gone so far
00:08:36.720 if they think he's been successful.
00:08:37.900 Don't touch it.
00:08:38.360 Don't touch it.
00:08:39.080 You go around.
00:08:39.800 You go around.
00:08:40.320 You go around.
00:08:40.920 You go around.
00:08:41.520 You go around.
00:08:41.540 You go around.
00:08:42.120 You go around.
00:08:43.320 You go around.
00:08:43.980 You go around.
00:08:45.000 I'm a reporter.
00:08:49.480 I'm here to ask people
00:08:50.280 how they're going to think
00:08:51.020 so they're going to think
00:08:51.660 so they're going to go around.
00:08:55.880 You put the shortest guy
00:08:56.920 on the camera down.
00:08:57.980 Who is that?
00:08:59.040 Like a bigger person.
00:09:01.360 You look like anything.
00:09:03.640 Oh, here we go.
00:09:05.620 Oh, you see?
00:09:06.340 Hey, it's in the rain
00:09:08.420 in a minute.
00:09:09.040 It's okay.
00:09:09.700 It's okay.
00:09:10.440 We're live.
00:09:11.440 No need to be strapped.
00:09:12.520 No need to be strapped.
00:09:13.380 Don't touch me.
00:09:14.080 No need to be strapped.
00:09:15.220 Hey, let them guys rest me.
00:09:18.700 Hey, you guys, don't worry.
00:09:20.120 Don't worry.
00:09:20.620 Who's your head?
00:09:20.920 Who's your head?
00:09:21.420 It's all the white supremacist.
00:09:23.120 It's all the white supremacist.
00:09:23.700 You're okay.
00:09:24.500 Record.
00:09:25.000 Record.
00:09:25.300 Turn it on.
00:09:25.840 I am recording.
00:09:26.380 It's all the white supremacist.
00:09:28.580 Hold on.
00:09:29.100 Hold on.
00:09:30.100 Let's go.
00:09:30.800 Let's go.
00:09:31.100 Let's go.
00:09:31.300 Let's go.
00:09:31.800 Let's go.
00:09:32.800 Let's go.
00:09:33.300 Let's go.
00:09:33.800 I don't give a f**k if you're a man.
00:09:36.500 Don't worry about it.
00:09:37.500 My son is obviously going to be the thing.
00:09:39.200 My man is going to be returned to me one day.
00:09:41.500 And what land is that?
00:09:42.400 Is that Palestine?
00:09:42.900 Yes, it is.
00:09:43.900 Are you going to go there yourself?
00:09:44.900 I don't give a f**k what you think.
00:09:46.900 I'm here for my reasons.
00:09:47.900 Well, it's 6.20pm and 6 o'clock was the deadline given by the Toronto Police and the University
00:09:52.900 to the protesters behind me in this encampment to clear out before they would be forcefully cleared out.
00:09:58.900 They abandoned the park at around 4 o'clock it appears.
00:10:01.900 And ever since then they were marching around King's College Circle.
00:10:04.900 And then, right when we arrived, they started marching down the street and across and up St. George.
00:10:12.900 Something incredible happened when we were asking these protesters questions.
00:10:16.900 And the question we asked them was quite simple.
00:10:18.900 How did they feel the protest over the past two months has gone?
00:10:22.900 Do they think it was successful?
00:10:23.900 Are they pleased with what they've achieved so far?
00:10:26.900 Have they achieved anything?
00:10:27.900 Those are the questions we wanted to ask because we weren't here to provoke them.
00:10:30.900 It seemed as though the protesters had a different idea in mind because after asking a few people some questions,
00:10:35.900 it became quite obvious to us that many of these protesters knew who we were and they weren't actually going to let us speak to anyone.
00:10:42.900 Even those that actually wanted to speak to us.
00:10:44.900 As we were covering the march along St. George, we got up to the front and I asked a woman who was carrying a sign about Israel.
00:10:51.900 I just asked her, what does her sign mean?
00:10:53.900 And then I asked her the same questions.
00:10:55.900 How does she feel this protest has gone so far?
00:10:58.900 And as we moved over to the sidewalk, someone approached us and he knew my name, believe it or not.
00:11:03.900 And I asked him what his name was.
00:11:04.900 Of course, he didn't speak to me.
00:11:05.900 And from that point on, a crowd around us encircled Sam, my cameraman, and I.
00:11:11.900 And we were then assaulted by a man with a black umbrella who was spearing both of us in our backs and over our heads to try to get us to stop doing journalism.
00:11:21.900 You would think that for a group as large as that and as militant and aggressive as that, there would be more police watching what's been going on.
00:11:30.900 But remarkably, there wasn't that many police officers.
00:11:33.900 Protesters also circled the Rebel News truck that had been going around Toronto that you likely know about.
00:11:38.900 They caused quite a scene and they circled that truck and tried to swarm it essentially.
00:11:43.900 Again, no police action to prevent that from happening.
00:11:45.900 Speaking of police action, we haven't seen any police action in the park behind me.
00:11:49.900 As you can see, it's empty.
00:11:50.900 It was empty when we arrived here actually.
00:11:52.900 And there's been nothing that has actually gone on to take down these blue fences.
00:11:55.900 Almost every university encampment has come down already.
00:11:58.900 It feels as though this University of Toronto encampment was the last one standing.
00:12:02.900 And the university allowed it to go on for two months.
00:12:05.900 It is private property. Let's just get that right off the top.
00:12:08.900 And furthermore, you would think that a university would want to allow the centerpiece, their park in the middle of the university, to be accessible for all students.
00:12:16.900 Not to have the gate, which is right behind me, that they've had for the past two months dictating who can and cannot come in.
00:12:22.900 When we came here two months ago on May 6th, they had that gate there deciding who couldn't enter this protest.
00:12:30.900 They even denied Jewish students access and had ridiculous messages on the chalk like go back to Europe and other messages like that.
00:12:37.900 It remains to be seen what is going to happen to this protest.
00:12:40.900 We were told by one of the organizers in their mass press conference earlier that they were giving up the King's College Circle.
00:12:45.900 They were giving up the encampment, but their protest won't stop.
00:12:48.900 So they're going to keep going on this protest.
00:12:50.900 They're going to keep marching around Toronto.
00:12:52.900 But for now, the tents are down and it looks like they will stay down.
00:12:56.900 Signing off from the University of Toronto, Harrison Falk.
00:12:59.900 Let's see you in vor.
00:13:03.900 Let's all share your Simon�.
00:13:04.900 Let's see you in front.
00:13:05.900 The 별 that is