TMU reassigns security guards after student violently detained in pro-Palestine protest
Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) says security officers have been “reassigned” following a violent detainment of a pro-Palestine student protester.
The incident took place on Sept. 19 at a Democracy Forum on campus where MP and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon was in attendance.
According to the Students for Justice in Palestine at TMU (SJP), several activists showed up after voicing concerns about the organizer’s “complicity” in the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
The activists were eventually escorted out, including a female student who was then forcibly detained by security guards with the incident being captured on video and shared online. The disturbing video shows a male security guard lifting up the student and carrying her across the hallway while she yells for him to “get off” of her.
A few moments later, the guard slams her to the ground, while another guard assists to pin her down while they handcuff her.
The student repeatedly yells that the officers are hurting her.
“You’re hurting me, I can’t breathe,” she said.
The video ends with the guards dragging the handcuffed student out of the hallway.
The incident has left students and community members shocked, with SJP calling for the termination of the security guards involved.
“This incident was not only a blatant display of excessive force and violation of students rights, but an escalation of a broader pattern of violent repression that students advocating for Palestine have faced,” SJP said on Sunday in a statement on Instagram.
Security guard making arrests
TMU Vice President of Administration and Operations Saeed Zolfaghari also released a statement on the University’s website calling the video “unsettling and disturbing to watch.”
TMU reassigns security guards after student violently detained in pro-Palestine protest
Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) says security officers have been “reassigned” following a violent detainment of a pro-Palestine student protester.
The incident took place on Sept. 19 at a Democracy Forum on campus where MP and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon was in attendance.
According to the Students for Justice in Palestine at TMU (SJP), several activists showed up after voicing concerns about the organizer’s “complicity” in the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
The activists were eventually escorted out, including a female student who was then forcibly detained by security guards with the incident being captured on video and shared online. The disturbing video shows a male security guard lifting up the student and carrying her across the hallway while she yells for him to “get off” of her.
A few moments later, the guard slams her to the ground, while another guard assists to pin her down while they handcuff her.
The student repeatedly yells that the officers are hurting her.
“You’re hurting me, I can’t breathe,” she said.
The video ends with the guards dragging the handcuffed student out of the hallway.
The incident has left students and community members shocked, with SJP calling for the termination of the security guards involved.
“This incident was not only a blatant display of excessive force and violation of students rights, but an escalation of a broader pattern of violent repression that students advocating for Palestine have faced,” SJP said on Sunday in a statement on Instagram.
Security guard making arrests
TMU Vice President of Administration and Operations Saeed Zolfaghari also released a statement on the University’s website calling the video “unsettling and disturbing to watch.”