Montreal — Pro-Palestinian student activists in Montreal set up camp on the grounds of McGill University this weekend, following a wave of similar protests on campuses across the United States.
More than two dozen tents had been pitched on the school’s downtown campus as of Sunday afternoon, with a steady stream of visitors stopping to drop off donations and supplies.
“Ruth,” a student and spokesperson for McGill, who did not want to give her full name for fear of reprisals from the school or the police, warned that the campers intended to stay indefinitely.
She said student activists at McGill and Concordia universities are demanding that their schools divest and cut ties and funding to Israeli institutions and businesses, in response to the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
McGill released a statement Sunday saying the university was in talks with lawyers retained by the protesters and was working with Montreal police to maintain campus security, emphasizing that the protests had been peaceful and limited to the lower grounds.
The camp spokesperson said the Montreal students were inspired by the dozens of pro-Palestinian protests that took place on campuses across the United States, against the backdrop of the war between Israel and Hamas. Critics say the protests are anti-Semitic and leave Jewish students in danger.
“It’s an incredible movement, and we think it’s time for us to contribute to this movement and try to refocus all our energy on Gaza, in a situation that is still costing thousands of lives as we speak “, Ruth said.
The Associated Press reported that nearly 900 people have been arrested in U.S. university protests since April 18, when New York police destroyed a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at Columbia University and arrested more than 100 demonstrators.
The tensions are linked to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which began after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostages . Promising to eradicate Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza. In the ensuing war, Israel killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local Health Ministry.
While Montreal police could be seen parked on nearby streets and campus security was present, there were no signs of conflict at McGill on Sunday.
Dozens of supporters applauded and waved Palestinian flags near the encampment while a speaker on a megaphone chanted “Disclose. Divest. We will not stop, we will not rest.”
A number of young people sat in tents and under tarpaulins to hide from the drizzle in the encampment, flanked by a large banner reading “Ceasefire!” Someone had chalked the words “Viva viva Intifada” and “Free Palestine” on the doors leading to the school.
Intifada is an Arabic word whose meanings include getting rid of oppression. In English, it is most often associated with two periods of particular intensity in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which included a series of attacks by Palestinian terrorist groups on public places in Israel.
In a video posted to social media Saturday evening, MP Anthony Housefather called on McGill to dismantle the encampment, with police assistance if necessary. He said that while people have the right to protest, the encampments violate “just about every code of conduct,” including McGill’s.
“I call on the McGill administration in public, as I have done in private, to ensure that this encampment is removed, in accordance with their own rules, given that we must ensure that students feel safe security when they access campus for their upcoming final exams,” he said in a video on the X platform.
The Jewish organization B’nai Brith Canada, for its part, urged the public to write to provincial ministers of higher education to denounce what it calls “a horrible normalization of anti-Semitism on university campuses”, including including at McGill.
Ruth, the student spokeswoman, said the campers have not yet experienced retaliation from police or the school, but are prepared for it to happen.
She said the campers had no plans to leave and their numbers had increased since camp was set up Saturday.
“We just want to make sure that all eyes are on Gaza, all eyes are on Rafah, all eyes are on Palestine, that is our fundamental objective,” she maintained.
— With archives from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa and the Associated Press
