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A pro-Palestinian protest camp on the grounds of McGill University’s downtown campus calling for the institution to divest from its investments in Israel entered its 11th day Tuesday with no end in sight.
The McGill encampment’s second week coincides with a new survey suggesting that while such protests can raise awareness of an issue, they have little or no effect on changing the policies being criticized.
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Even fewer believe that protests generally move people from one side of an issue to the other. Sixty-nine per cent said protests are ineffective at “changing the views of those who initially disagree.”
Meanwhile, as university campuses across the country deal with encampments, the tactics of protesters are under intense scrutiny. Even for causes they support, Canadians say blocking major infrastructure is unacceptable. Many say protesters should not block border crossings (69 per cent), bridges or railways (71 per cent), or stop traffic in major cities (64 per cent). However, Canadians who have protested in the past six months and Canadians who identify as Indigenous are much more likely to believe these are acceptable tactics.
The encampment of about 100 tents at McGill University was subject to an apparent blockade of supplies on Monday. Montreal police continue to monitor the protest and have said their decision to intervene will be based on any threat to the safety of the public or the protesters.
Encampment organizers told reporters on Monday that a meeting with university officials did not lead to a breakthrough. The university has offered to discuss its investments with protesters on the condition they dismantle their camp, an offer the latter have flatly refused.