‘This needs to stop’: McGill denounces vandalism, alleged assault on security guard

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McGill has denounced a pro-Palestinian protest Friday night that resulted in smashed windows, an alleged assault on a campus security guard and confrontations with police.

“This was the latest escalation in a series of unlawful activities designed to intimidate, to coerce, and to achieve objectives through force,” McGill president Deep Saini said in an email to the university community Monday morning.

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“It should be clear to everyone that attacks on people and property do not represent the legitimate exercise of anyone’s rights to free expression or assembly. Nor do they constitute peaceful protest. This needs to stop.”

Saini said the protesters “spray-painted slogans and profanities (on campus). Even more distressingly, a McGill security agent appears to have been assaulted – I was extremely relieved to learn that he was not seriously harmed.”

The university is working to “restore peace and stability on our campus,” he said.

It’s the first time the university has commented on Friday’s events.

Saini’s comments came as one of the groups behind Friday’s protest called for further escalation.

On Sunday, Palestine Action Montréal said it is time for protesters to “escalate” beyond “symbolic action” because “we know power won’t move unless we strike fear in the heart of the ruling class and pose a threat to their reproduction of capital.”

It added: “We will not disavow any actions taken to escalate the struggle, including militant direct actions.”

The group called for supporters to occupy buildings and confront police.

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It concluded: “We keep us safe by escalating. Don’t hesitate to take more risk.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters have been occupying part of McGill’s downtown Montreal campus since April 27.

They say they won’t leave until the university divests from companies linked to what they describe as the genocide of Palestinians and severs relationships with Israeli universities.

On Friday night, supporters of the encampment marched to McGill from Victoria Square, where police and the city had dismantled a similar encampment earlier that day.

“Fuck the dismantling, globalize the intifada,” organizers, including the McGill chapter of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, said in a social media post ahead of the protest.

The Montreal police department said one person was arrested and two officers suffered minor injuries. The protesters walked to McGill and at one point placed obstructions in the street to block police.

Officers — out in force on foot, bike and horseback — dispersed the demonstrators using chemical irritants after they showed a “hostile attitude,” police said.

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A 66-year-old man was arrested for allegedly assaulting a McGill security guard and mischief for smashing windows.

After the protest, Palestine Action Montréal, posted several videos on social media.

“Fuck you McGill, fuck you Valérie Plante, and fuck your police,” the group wrote Saturday over a clip showing a confrontation with police.

Over a video that appears to show people breaking windows, the group said: “This is what you get McGill. You will pay for silencing the students.”

In May, Saini was critical of the police response to a previous protest at which an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was hanged from the university’s Roddick Gates.

Witnesses told The Gazette that police officers were nearby when the effigy was hanged.

Montreal police, “as we understand it, watched the events unfold without preventing them,” Saini said. “This baffles us, and we have asked them to take every action possible under the law.”

After the Victoria Square camp was taken down, Saini said in a statement that he expected the city and police to also remove the encampment on his campus.

But Mayor Valérie Plante quickly quashed that idea. She said the city can’t intervene at McGill because it’s private property, unlike Victoria Square.

She also lashed out at the university, accusing it of lacking leadership and failing to “find a way out other than going to court.”

McGill says police have refused to intervene and negotiations with protesters have proved fruitless. Two Quebec judges have rejected requests to order protesters to clear out. Another court date is pending.

ariga@postmedia.com

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