The pro-Palestinian encampment on the lower field of the downtown campus of McGill University is being dismantled. A notice of eviction was served by the school early Wednesday morning, just before 5 a.m., and about 50 protesters were onsite at the time.
Some participants left the camp and began protesting in nearby streets.
As a result, the campus is closed today and university is asking people to stay away. Classes typically held on campus will move online.
The University says security personnel and Montreal police (SPVM) are on site.
“Earlier today, in close collaboration with the City of Montreal and police, the University began the dismantlement of the encampment on the lower field of McGill’s downtown campus through the engagement of a qualified security firm. The downtown campus is closed today to protect the safety of our community,” said Deep Saini, President and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University in a press release on Wednesday morning.
The encampment was setup on McGill’s lower field at the end of April.
On social networks, the group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, McGill Division, claimed that the camp was “under attack” and said it was in “urgent need” of support to “defend the camp.” “Bring masks, goggles and personal safety gear,” the group wrote.
In an email release on Wednesday morning, the group Désinvestir pour la Palestine wrote that one participant at the camp said, “Two Quebec judges said that this is not an illegal occupation.”
“This situation is absurd. We were told that we are breaking and entering on our own campus for protesting,” according to another participant in the same email release. “As we continue to witness bodies pull from the rubble [amid the war], I promise that students will not end the fight for divestment at this encampment.”
Montreal police outside the campus for security purposes only
There was a heavy police presence on Wednesday morning outside the campus on Sherbrooke street. SPVM officers on bikes, on foot, and in riot gear as well.
Police say the dismantling operation is being conducted by McGill.
“Police officers are onsite for security purposes just outside the site for security purposes,” said constable Jean-Pierre Brabant from the SPVM just after 6 a.m. Adding that any questions should be directed to the school.
“Everything is going well so far, police are on Sherbrooke and no police intervention has been needed,” Brabant told CityNews at around 7:40 a.m.
In their press release, McGill said that “efforts are being undertaken with extreme diligence, while prioritizing the safety and well-being of all.”
“McGill will always support the right to free expression and assembly, within the bounds of the laws and policies that keep us all safe. However, recent events go far beyond peaceful protest, and have inhibited the respectful exchange of views and ideas that is so essential to the University’s mission and to our sense of community,” added Saini in the press release.
McGill also claimed that “people linked to the camp have harassed our community members, engaged in antisemitic intimidation, damaged and destroyed McGill property, forcefully occupied a building, clashed with police, and committed acts of assault. […] The risks emanating from the camp have been escalating, steadily and dangerously.”
In reaction to the announcement of the dismantling, the Advisory Centre for Jewish-Israeli Relations and Federation CJA welcomed the fact that McGill University was taking steps to “prioritize the safety and well-being of its academic community, and to put an end to toxicity […] and the targeting of Jewish students on campus.”
Why McGill says they acted to dismantle the encampment
McGill University said that there are a few specific reasons why they decided to dismantle the camp, in heir press release explaining that Montreal fire safety officials, police, and McGill staff had long been denied access to the camp.
“Given the growing risks and the impossibility of knowing what was happening inside, the University engaged a firm to investigate the activities within the encampment.”
They explained that few members of the McGill community are in the encampment.
That there are significant health and safety risks. “Two drug overdoses occurred in the camp since July 6. Syringes are visible, and illegal narcotics have been sold there. The camp is infested with rats. There are fire risks, including a propane canister and flammable materials next to the tents.”
The University also claims that “the encampment is a magnet for violence and intimidation. The camp continues to attract protesters intent on violence, as the multiple incidents of vandalism on July 5 show. Certain people in the camp are planning to cause further damage to McGill, for example through vandalism.”
McGill President and Vice-Chancellor said in the press release that, “This camp was not a peaceful protest. It was a heavily fortified focal point for intimidation and violence, organized largely by individuals who are not part of our university community.”
Encampment at McGill was setup at the end of April
The protesters set up camp on April 27 at McGill, following similar demonstrations at other university campuses in North America.
Participants demanded that the university end its investments in companies that profit from Israel’s military operation in Gaza, and that management cut all ties between McGill and Israeli universities.
On two occasions, requests for injunctions to force the dismantling of the camp have been rejected by the Superior Court.
Tension at the camp reached a climax on June 6, when demonstrators took over an administration building at the school. Police intervened and arrested 15 people.
Negotiations have taken place in the past between the camp organizers and McGill management, during which the university proposed measures to meet some of the protesters’ demands, but the talks failed to convince the participants to dismantle the camp.
“As long as McGill continues to fund the ongoing genocide in Palestine, we will continue a campaign of escalation on campus,” the protesters wrote in an Instagram post in early July.
Other encampments set up elsewhere in Quebec have been dismantled by the protesters following agreements with the universities concerned.
Last week, the City of Montreal dismantled another encampment in Square Victoria.
With files from The Canadian Press