After surviving a first rainy night, protestors at a new pro-Palestinian encampment at Victoria Square in Montreal’s downtown are calling on Quebec’s pension fund manager to divest from certain companies with ties to Israel.
Protestors began barricading themselves using construction materials around 1:20 p.m. Saturday, according to Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) spokesperson Véronique Dubuc.
In a news release, protestors from the Divest for Palestine Collective say they’re asking the Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ) to divest from 87 companies with ties to Israel in the wake of the latter’s war against Hamas and occupation of Palestinian territories.
Additonally, the collective is asking the CDPQ to put in place a transparent process that would prevent future investments “associated with human rights and international law violations,” it says in the news release.
They’re also asking Minister of international relations and the Francophonie Martine Biron to shut down Quebec’s office in Israel.
Police say they’re monitoring the situation and have a line of communication with the protestors.
The encampment builds off the student-led movement which has seen tents spring up across North American campuses, including McGill University in Montreal. There, an encampment has been in place for nearly two months, despite two injunction requests.
On Tuesday, the university said it was done negotiating with the students and is looking to take disciplinary action.
Another encampment at the Université du Québec à Montréal was dismantled in late May after that university agreed to most of the student’s demands including creating a $100,000 fund for Palestinian academics and students, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and asking the UQAM Foundation to ensure it has no direct investment in weapons companies.