The pro-Palestinian encampment on McGill University’s downtown campus ended not with the sound of tear gas canisters popping and and batons against riot shields, but with private security guards escorting a few dozen protesters out of the sprawling site in the early hours on Wednesday.
Montreal police had told the university it wouldn’t dismantle the encampment without the approval of a judge. But instead of waiting for yet another injunction request to move through Quebec Superior Court, the university hired its own force to do the job.
For Zeyad Abisaab, who has been involved in the encampment through Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) Concordia, McGill’s use of private security firm Sirco to remove the protesters is “absolutely shameful.”
“The courts did not make this decision,” Abisaab said. “This is McGill and its private interests attacking its own students for protesting against investment in genocide and weapons manufacturer companies.”
Since the encampment was erected on April 27, two Quebec Superior Court judges rejected provisional injunctions to have it removed. Another injunction request from McGill is still pending.
McGill ended negotiations with student protesters last month, denying their demand that the university divest from all companies with financial ties to Israel.
Local and provincial police officers wearing riot gear were on campus, with some officers on bicycles and others on horseback, as protesters were served eviction notices and escorted off the site. Workers then dismantled the encampment, with little trace left as heavy rain began to pour Wednesday afternoon.
Fabrice Labeau, deputy provost of student life and learning, told Radio-Canada the operation was done in “close co-ordination” with Montreal police and the city. He said the university was grateful for the large police presence on campus while the operation was in progress.
Labeau denied the characterization of the protest as peaceful, saying there had been intimidation, harassment and vandalism on campus as well as the brief occupation of a university building.
He also said private investigators had found that as the protest stretched into summer, the majority of the people sleeping at the encampment were homeless.
When Dr. Nimâ Machouf heard reports of the encampment being dismantled, she made her way to campus to support student protesters.
“It should not be up to students to come and sleep in the street, in the rain” to demand McGill cut ties with weapons manufacturers after Parliament voted to end arms sales to Israel, she said.
The university maintains that meeting protesters’ demands would have required divesting from a vast range of institutions, including every major Canadian bank.
Property rights vs. freedom of expression
After the university’s failed attempts at dismantling the encampment through the courts, having private security agents kick them out was all the more surprising, said Felix Burt, who was at the encampment Wednesday morning.
“When you see 400 police officers in paramilitary riot gear, it’s very, very intimidating, even for people that have done this a few times now,” Burt said.
Montreal police were on site to intervene if necessary and ensure safety, according to Marikym Gaudreault, a spokesperson for the city.
While most protesters left the site peacefully, at least one person was arrested.
“We are relieved to see that the university’s operation is taking place calmly and with respect for everyone,” Gaudreault wrote in an email.
In a statement McGill said that it was within its rights to “evict anybody who is on its property without authorization.”
Louis-Philippe Lampron, a law professor at Université Laval, said that as the legal owner of the land, McGill has a point.
“The reconciliation of two rights, which oppose each other here,” he said, referring to freedom of expression and property rights, “are very complex issues.”
“Unfortunately, the decision [to intervene] came before the court decision on the issue.”
As pro-Palestinian encampments pop up on university campuses across Canada, there’s a renewed focus on freedom of expression.
Calling the operation “good news,” Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry applauded the intervention teams, saying “everyone is on task.”
“It was absolutely necessary to act,” said Déry, who has repeatedly called for the encampment to come down.
Despite the encampment’s removal, Déry said the environment on university campuses remains “toxic” for some teachers and students who fear returning in the fall semester.
Supporters of the encampment say they will continue to demand that the school divest.
“The administration has shown that they were never committed to getting a peaceful end to this encampment,” a representative of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill told a crowd of protesters in front of the university Wednesday afternoon.
“Why are they [more] willing to brutalize their own students than to stop investing in genocide?”