This Saturday’s Palestinian march to and from the BC legislature will be the last with a police accompaniment, something its organizers said they never asked for and something the police service said it can no longer provide.

Effective April 4, VicPD will no longer provide traffic control or related police resources for the street portion of the demonstration, the police service announced yesterday. 

“This decision is not about the cause itself,” VicPD Chief Fiona Wilson said, adding the force remains committed to supporting the right to peaceful protest.

“This is about balance and about our responsibility to ensure that we can continue to meet all public safety needs across Victoria and Esquimalt.”

VicPD said it had dedicated more than 10K hours of officer time to the weekly marches, which begin and end at the legislature and usually last several hours. VicPD said most protest officers work overtime, and the concern is more about worker health than money.

“Fatigue and burnout are real concerns,” Wilson said.

“We have a duty to ensure our members are supported, healthy, and able to serve our communities over the long term.”

Letters of explanation were distributed to the City of Victoria, Jewish and Muslim community representatives, Palestinian march organizers, and the BC legislature, said Insp. Connor King, VicPD’s point person on operational planning. 

Starting this Saturday, officers will hand out information pamphlets to protesters and the broader community, outlining the changes and answering questions, he said. In addition, he said, foot patrol officers will do the same for the business community.

“This isn't a budget decision for the Victoria Police,” King said. 

“This is 100% an officer wellness decision.”

VicPD says this protest is different

King called the Saturday marches “the longest protest in police history” at 126 consecutive weeks (organizers say it’s actually 129) and the only one that takes to the road week after week.

“Other protests that we manage—and we manage a great number of them—generally stay at a fixed location at the BC legislature, or some of them that are mobile stay to the sidewalks.”

The Palestinian protests begin on the legislative lawn, move onto Government, and snake north to Johnson before turning and heading to Douglas. The protesters then turn and head south on Douglas to Humboldt and back to the legislature.

“So, there are periods of time, as you can understand, in front of the Empress Hotel, on Johnson Street, and on Douglas Street, which are major traffic thoroughfares, where traffic needs to be controlled,” King said.

He said, she said

VicPD’s police liaison team has had numerous conversations with march organizers, he said, and those conversations have resulted in “many requests for us to be present,” primarily to close and control traffic during the march. 

“We, in turn, have asked for the march to cease,” he said. 

“We have always asked for this march to cease because it is inherently unsafe to take to a road in the first place, and we have conveyed time and time again that this is very taxing on finite police resources.”

That’s not how the march’s organizing group remembers the conversations. 

“The rally organizers have never asked for police presence,” said Maureen Stone, a spokesperson from the Palestine Solidarity Group / Coast Salish to Palestine.

“Whatever hours and monies that VicPD has chosen to spend on accompanying the marches is VicPD's decision alone.”

As for whether the police asked the marchers to stop, the group sees things differently.

“They have not ever explicitly asked us to cease marching—as that would be an infringement on our constitutional rights,” Stone said.

Stone said for the last two years, the marches have been peaceful, and that safety volunteers—marshals, she called them—“were always the first to step in and prevent altercations provoked by counterprotesters."

King contends having 40 to 100 people marching from the sidewalk to the street in a busy corridor is more of the concern. 

“Walking in active traffic lanes carries inherent significant risk. This includes limited visibility, unpredictable driver behavior, and the absence of traffic control measures,” he said.

Police ask all demonstrators and marchers to be mindful

King said individuals who choose to enter the roadway do so at their own risk.

“People have a responsibility to protect themselves, and stepping off a sidewalk onto a roadway, I think it's very clear that is inherently unsafe, so we're asking people to make those appropriate decisions.”

As far as costs go, the province foots most of the bill for VicPD’s presence at the legislature. 

“They do cover a significant portion, but VicPD has had to cover a smaller amount of the costs, such as overtime,” King said.

The number of officers assigned to the protest varied each week, King said, but the contingent comprised members of the Greater Victoria Public Safety Unit, traffic team, patrol division, and General Investigation Section.

“It was VicPD's decision to accompany us through the streets, spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars, deploying up to a dozen police officers, two vehicles, two motorbikes, and even drones,” Stone said.

VicPD to determine future coverage on case-by-case basis

When asked whether VicPD would have a presence at future Palestinian protests, King said it will be a case-by-case decision.

“VicPD will assess what the protests look like in the future with an eye to policing in cooperation with the legislative officers on the grounds of the legislature as required.”

The protesters say they’ll continue to march each week. 

“We will not stop until the Canadian state completely ends its complicity in apartheid, war crimes, and genocide in occupied Palestine,” Stone said.