McGill University is considering its next steps to deal with the encampment set up by pro-Palestinian activists on campus grounds in downtown Montreal, officials said Monday.
In a statement posted on its website, the university said the situation has “changed significantly” and that the number of people at the camp has “tripled since Saturday.”
University officials added that “many, if not most, of them are not members of the McGill community.”
A spokesperson for the camp said members are calling on McGill and Concordia universities to divest from Israel-related funds. They demand that academic institutions cut financial ties with Israel in light of the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
At the McGill camp there are signs that read “You are funding genocide” and “Free Gaza now” and describe protesters as standing in solidarity with the Palestinian cause and the people of Gaza.
This follows a wave of similar protests that took place on college and university campuses across the United States. The Associated Press reported that nearly 900 people had been arrested at US university protests since April 18, when New York police dismantled a pro-Palestinian protest camp at Columbia University and arrested more than 100 protesters.
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Sunday, Montreal police said the protest at McGill had remained peaceful, with no arrests or need for police intervention.
A pro-Palestinian activist is seen inside a camp set up on the campus of McGill University in Montreal, Monday, April 29, 2024.
McGill has repeatedly said it supports the right to free speech and peaceful assembly within the confines of university policies as well as the law, but the current encampment violates both.
On Monday, the university said it had seen “video evidence of some people using unequivocally anti-Semitic language and intimidating behavior, which is absolutely unacceptable on our campuses.”
“We condemn this in the strongest terms possible and will move quickly to investigate,” McGill said.
The incident McGill referred to was refuted by Independent Jewish Voices McGill member Sasha Robson.
“We are here as a peaceful protest,” Robson said. “We’re doing everything we can to keep it that way.”
The university is in contact with the encampment’s attorneys to discuss a possible timeline for dismantling the tents, but said it was informed Sunday night that protesters “indicated that they intended to remain on campus indefinitely.”
— with files from Global’s Brayden Jagger Haines, Alessia Simona Maratta and The Canadian Press
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