Lawyers for McGill University are seeking an injunction to take down the pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the university’s downtown campus.
On Monday, Jacques Darche argued in Quebec Superior Court that the protesters in the encampment, whom he referred to repeatedly as “occupants,” were breaking the university’s policies and preventing McGill from using its own land for annual convocation ceremonies.
He also repeatedly used the terms like “fortress,” “village” and “fortifications” to refer to the encampment, which has grown into a collection of dozens of tents inside a ring of temporary fencing since it was established.
But he faced a barrage of criticism from Superior Court Justice Marc St-Pierre, who demanded he show evidence that there was an urgent need for the encampment to come down.
He said he “needs urgency” to grand the provisional injunction, “not just a clear right” for McGill to use its land.
Darche appeared increasingly frustrated by the questions and repeated his assertion that McGill, as the landowner, had the right to use the land on which the protesters were camping, but the argument did not appear to sway St-Pierre.
In the court documents filed, McGill said the encampment was set up on its private property without prior warning, poses a “security, safety and public health risk” and has escalated tensions on campus.
The university also stresses it does not want to limit the right to protest, but says the encampment “differs significantly from the typical protest experienced at McGill,” calling it a “fortified and entrenched space.”
If approved, the order would authorize the Montreal police to immediately enforce a provisional injunction to dismantle the camp and prevent protesters from setting up a new one.
St-Pierre’s ruling is expected Tuesday.
Past injunction rejected
Lawyer Julius Grey represents the group Palestinians and Jews United, one of the groups arguing against the injunction request.
On Monday morning, Grey told reporters outside the courtroom that McGill would have to show evidence that the encampment was permanent, unsanitary and was dangerous for fire safety reasons, among others.
“We have affidavits that show that this demonstration is completely peaceful,” he said. “It’s not permanent. We will not have a permanent encampment at McGill. The question before the court will be whether it is necessary at this point to intervene, not what the long-term solution is.”
At midday on Monday, the hearing was in recess after lawyers for McGill and for the defendants butted heads on a number of procedural rulings. They had not yet begun to argue the merits of McGill’s injunction request.
A previous injunction request to remove the encampment and ban other campus protests filed in Quebec Superior Court by two McGill students was rejected on May 1. Justice Chantale Masse said in her judgment that the plaintiffs failed to show the encampment caused them “irreparable harm.”
In that case, McGill was listed as an interested party, not a plaintiff.
McGill claims about safety, hygiene disputed
University staff and the fire department have been prevented from seeing what’s going on inside the encampment and assess its safety and security risks, according to the injunction request. It also said Montreal police refused to intervene and urged McGill to resolve the situation peacefully by talking to the protesters.
Both McGill and some protesters have said discussions to end the encampment have not been fruitful. The protesters have demanded that the university cut ties with Israeli academic institutions and pull all investments from companies that operate in Israel due to their “links to the ongoing Palestinian genocide.”
Similar protests have taken place at university campuses across North America.
Scott Weinstein, with Independent Jewish Voices Canada, told reporters at the courthouse Monday that doctors and nurses visited the McGill encampment and reject the university’s claim that it is unsafe.
Weinstein says the university is hypocritical for using sanitation issues as a reason to eject the protesters, because he says McGill refused to allow portable toilets to be installed at the encampment.
Deep Saini, McGill’s president and vice-chancellor, said in a statement Friday afternoon that the university would continue its “discussions with members of the McGill community participating in the encampment” regardless of the injunction.
“We are committed to doing so in good faith,” he said.
On Sunday, a second camp was set up at a Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) campus downtown Montreal. Students camping out there demanded that McGill withdraw its injunction request, that all Quebec universities universities divest from companies with ties to Israel. Protesters there are also demanding the Quebec government cancel its plans to open an office in Tel Aviv.
Similar encampments in Calgary and Edmonton were violently dismantled by police over the last week.