McGill University says it has “requested police assistance” about the pro-Palestinian encampment on its lower field.
“We informed participants that this encampment was not authorized and gave them time to gather their belongings and leave the premises,” McGill said Tuesday. “However, most have chosen to remain. As we worked through the steps, we also engaged in dialogue with representatives of McGill students.”
The university says it failed to reach a resolution with the student demonstrators and “decided to take the final step in our protocol.”
Officials say they requested police assistance late Monday afternoon.
McGill goes on to say, “the safety and wellbeing of all our students and staff is our paramount concern.”
This comes after demonstrators started camping out on the school’s grounds last weekend to demand the university divest from funds they claim are connected to Israel.
They say they want McGill to divest from Israeli companies it says are “complicit in the occupation of Palestine.”
They say they also want the school to cut academic ties with Israeli institutions and denounce Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which has led to more than 34,000 Palestinian deaths, according to the local health ministry.
The encampment in Montreal is one of a wave of similar protests across university campuses in the United States linked to the Israel-Hamas war.