On the sixth day of the encampment in support of Gaza at McGill University’s downtown campus, two protests are planned on the school’s grounds: one in support of the demonstration and one against it.
As a result, McGill tells CityNews that the SPVM informed them that they mobilized police officers. McGill says they have alerted their community to avoid using the main road between the Roddick Gates entrance and the Y-intersection below the Arts Building.
On Wednesday, several Jewish groups announced that they were planning a protest at McGill’s Roddick Gates at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday demanding the university “enforce its policies.”
Shortly after that announcement, two pro-Palestinian groups, SPHR Concordia and SPHR McGill, took to social media and called for an emergency protest to be held at the university’s lower field on Thursday at 11:30 a.m.
They are asking for people to help protect the encampment that’s been set up since Saturday to support Gaza and demand that McGill and Concordia divest from companies they claim have ties to Israel.
“We must show up in numbers to demonstrate that no amount of repression or intimidation can deter us from our fight for justice,” the post reads.
“We are here to support of these brave students,” said Rabbi Dovid Fledman of Neturei Karta International. “This is bravery is to be admired.”
“This bravery should be a lesson for the rest of Canada,” he added. “For the rest of your humanity, for the rest of the world to speak up and stop crimes which are taking place.”
“Calamity is a catastrophe which are being unjust conflicted on the Jewish people and we say that we support this movement we support the Palestinian movement not because we are anti-Semitic not because we anti-Jewish, because we are Jewish because we follow our religion, which condemn all of this,” said Dovid Fledman.
“We are concerned the Palestinian people we are concerned for the Jewish people as well.”
The two planned protests are expected to take place right across from each other.
Police confirmed to CityNews that officers are present to ensure safety.
“We are concerned for our people,” said Dovid Fledman. “As much as we ask your concern for your humanity.”
Call for calm
The Canadian Muslim Forum (FMC-CMF) and Table de concertation de la communauté musulmane du Québec (TCCMQ) issued a statement on Wednesday evening saying they have been in continued communication with various stakeholders “to maintain the peacefulness of the students’ movement and avoid any unwanted developments.”
In the face of the counter-protest, both groups call on the encampment participants “not to be drawn into the actions and reactions and to immediately report and communicate with the police forces present at the place if the protesters are exposed to threats and to leave matters to the competent authorities.”
The FMC-CMF says they want the administration of McGill University and the student movement to meet and speak directly about the demands of the protesters.
McGill University offers to hold forum
In a letter to McGill students Wednesday, the university’s president says it made an offer to the lawyers retained by certain students.
“If members of the McGill community in the encampment permanently leave the encampment immediately, I commit to holding a forum with members of the McGill community to discuss your various demands and any contrary views in a peaceful, respectful, and civilized manner,” McGill president and vice-chancelor Deep Saini wrote.
“I felt it was important to let McGillians as a whole know the proposal we had offered to them.”
Saini said all non-McGill students must leave the university grounds immediately.
Injunction request rejected
A Quebec judge rejected a request for an injunction to stop the protest at McGill on Wednesday after two students at the university had asked Quebec Superior Court to order protesters to move at least 100 metres from school buildings, saying their presence had created an environment of aggression and left them feeling unsafe.
Justice Chantal Masse ruled Wednesday that the students failed to demonstrate that their access to the school was being blocked or that they would be unable to write their final exams. She also took into account statements from the protesters who argued that such an order would have a “chilling effect” on their right to free speech.
-With files from The Canadian Press
