Montreal students staged a walkout on Monday in support of Palestinians and call for divestment on the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel.
The Oct. 7, 2023, attack killed some 1,200 Israelis. Of the 251 taken hostage on that day, around 100 are said to remain in captivity – though that number also includes some hostages who are thought to be dead.
In Israel’s retaliation, nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to its health ministry.
“Students are gathering today to commemorate one year since the beginning of this genocidal campaign on the people of Gaza,” said Rama Al Malah with Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill. “This campaign that has since then expanded into a war with the people of Lebanon as well as we’ve seen with the ground invasion unfolding over the past few days.
“We are here today also to continue reiterating our demands to our administration who instead of answering the demands of the student body, which is divestment and academic boycott and an end to its complicity in this genocide, their response was to shut down our campuses as a tactic of repression.”
In the two days leading up to Oct. 7, McGill University restricted campus access, allowing entry only for students and staff while closing it to the public. During this period, most classes were moved online.
A heavy police presence was felt all over downtown amid the protest.
“I’m a part of the Student Strike for Palestine campaign and we’re trying to form a broader mass movement,” said Concordia University student Laurent Cardinal. “We think that walkouts are great but there needs to be escalation. There needs to be a coordinated effort to shut down the campuses until demands are met.
“The more oppression there, the more important it is to participate the more important it is to overcome.”
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“Mass starvation has been imposed on our people there is no access to food, water, medical services, every hospital has been destroyed, every university in Gaza has been destroyed and instead of this war ending, it has expanded to Lebanon,” added Al Malah.
“I’m here because I’m in solidarity with my Palestinian brothers and sisters,” said Leo with Independent Jewish Voices McGill. “Being in solidarity is not in spite of my Jewish identity but it’s because of it. As a Jew, how I was raised, I cannot stand by, see this kind of injustice, and to make things even worse, to see it perpetrated in my name.”