Updated: Legault calls for dismantling of pro-Palestinian encampment at McGill

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Premier François Legault says police should move in and dismantle the pro-Palestinian encampment at McGill University.

Speaking to reporters in Quebec City, he said the protest — in place since Saturday — is illegal. Legault said he will leave it up to police to decide when and how to proceed.

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“Everybody in Quebec has to respect laws, and right now these encampments are illegal,” he said. “We have to respect the law. And I want to make sure that the police officers ensure the laws are respected.”

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On Wednesday, a Quebec Superior Court judge rejected a request from two McGill students who sought to have the protesters at the encampment from being within 100 metres of any of the school’s buildings.

However, “if you read the decision they say clearly that (the encampment is) illegal,” Legault said.

He added: “We’re all worried about what’s happening in Gaza. People can show their (position) in demonstrations — these are allowed, these are legal. But they cannot have encampments on a university site.”

As the encampment entered its sixth day Thursday, there was a visible police presence ahead of a planned counter-protest by pro-Israel groups.

Police have generally kept a low profile around the camp, usually with a single vehicle parked across the street.

Montreal Police spokesman Const. Jean-Pierre Brabant said officers are there to ensure the safety of encampment participants, counter-protesters and the public.

“We’re here for safety purposes,” he said in an interview. “We have intervention groups that will be ready if there’s any confrontation, but that’s not what we want at this point, we want a protest that’s going to be calm and done pacifically.”

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Police are continuing to analyze the situation, but have no plans to use force to dismantle the encampment, he said.

“From the beginning, it’s been peaceful,” Brabant said of the encampment, adding that police have not conducted any interventions on the site since the camp was set up Saturday.

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Communications between police and encampment organizers are going very well, Brabant said, adding that police are also in “constant communication with McGill University.”

A few encampment participants came and went Thursday morning, while some were seen speaking with police, but the chats and drumming often heard during the day in front of the fenced camp had not yet begun.

Across the street, pro-Israel groups had set up a large screen ahead of the counter-protest scheduled to take place after noon and were showing a documentary about the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas that left more than 1,200 people dead, most of them civilians.

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The Israeli military has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the ensuing war, mostly women and children, according local health officials in the Hamas-run territory.

On Wednesday, McGill president Deep Saini, who has asked for police assistance to dismantle the camp, said he would organize a forum with participants if they dismantled the camp.

However, a protest organizer told The Gazette that while they want to have a dialogue with McGill and other Montreal universities about investments linked to the Israeli state, they won’t accept leaving as a condition for those discussions.

“We’re not going to take a promise of a forum, of a discussion, of a potential divestment as a serious offer. We are here until we see a divestment,” Ari Nahman, a student at Concordia University and a spokesperson for camp organizers, said Wednesday evening.

Also on Wednesday, a Quebec Superior Court judge rejected a request from two McGill students who were seeking an injunction that would have required the camp to be dismantled.

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