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A group of protesters blocked access to Concordia University’s downtown administration building for around an hour Monday morning as they called for the university to cut ties with Israel.
University spokeswoman Vannina Maestracci said police were called but didn’t have to intervene because the protesters left soon after.
“A small group (about 20) of masked protesters blocked all access to one of our buildings … chaining doors and vandalizing the lobby,” she wrote in an email.
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Const. Véronique Dubuc, a Montreal police spokeswoman, said the protest at the building on the corner of Guy St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd. began between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. and ended around 10:30 a.m.
“A group of protesters came to the entrance of Concordia University and barricaded themselves inside. Acts of mischief were committed and then for an unknown reason they left on their own,” she said.
The group then protested in the street before walking east along de Maisonneuve Blvd., Dubuc said, adding that some of the protesters went to the pro-Palestinian encampment at the Université du Québec à Montréal.
No arrests have been made, Dubuc said, but police are continuing to investigate because crimes were committed.
Access to the Concordia building on de Maisonneuve remained limited shortly before 1 p.m. on Monday, with the main doors blocked by police tape and a security guard, while a police crime scene investigator could be seen taking pictures.
Staff and others with business in the building had been directed to enter through a side door.
Inside the main entrance, on a second set of glass doors, the words “Free Gaza” and a Palestinian flag had been painted on the glass. Posters with the words “Intifada” and “Free Palestine” had been stuck to other doors.
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A post on social media by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights Concordia showed people inside the building chanting slogans calling for the university to disclose its investments in companies linked to Israel and to divest from those holdings.
The group said in a post on Instagram that the university “refused dialogue” with protesters and instead called police.
Referring to Israel as “the genocidal Zionist entity,” the group said that “Concordia repressing the students’ legitimate and moral right to demand divestment will only strengthen our resolve,” adding that other encampment protests have shown “it is never over after the first time.”
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights Concordia did not respond to an interview request sent through Instagram late Monday morning.
Concordia University does not disclose any of the specific investments held by its foundation.
Around 9:45 a.m., the university issued a shelter-in-place order for the building, but lifted the order around half an hour later.
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