Published Apr 29, 2024 • Last updated 25 minutes ago • 5 minute read
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McGill president Deep Saini is urging students to leave a growing pro-Palestinian encampment on campus, saying the protest has escalated to a point where it is no longer safe and that “hateful rhetoric has been flagrantly used” on site.
In an email to students and staff on Monday, Saini echoed statements from the university saying it is trying to de-escalate the situation before resorting to police assistance.
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Yet Saini went further in denouncing the protest, which was peaceful throughout Monday, characterizing it as contrary to the university’s core values.
“It is both appalling and heartbreaking to see individuals occupying our campus to use it as a platform for obvious antisemitism,” Saini wrote.
“Do you want to be associated with an event that flies patently in the face of the university’s core values?” he added. “If not, I ask you to please leave the site now.”
Earlier Monday, students taking part in the encampment strongly rejected the claim their actions are antisemitic and insisted they aren’t leaving the site until the university meets their demands.
“The accusation of antisemitism is an excuse that’s been used to undermine these pro-Palestinian efforts for the past six months, especially on student campuses,” a representative for Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill, one of the groups behind the encampment, said on Monday.
The representative acknowledged the potential police presence at the site and insisted the students will not dismantle the encampment until their demands are met.
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“There are risks in organizing this encampment. We’ve seen the unprecedented violence and repression against students in the United States,” she added. “But we also have full faith in our community and our ability to keep each other safe.”
A Montreal police spokesperson said Monday the force was aware of the university’s announcement. Officers were monitoring the situation at the encampment, which remained problem-free so far.
Meanwhile, Radio-Canada reported that lawyer Neil Oberman would seek a temporary injunction against the encampment Tuesday in Montreal court. He said he represents two McGill students and the university would be named in the injunction as an interested party.
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By afternoon, several dozen tents had been pitched on the McGill campus and a tall metal fence was erected around them. Organizers said some 200 people had spent the previous night in the encampment. Reporters were not allowed inside the fenced-in area.
The protest is meant to bring together students from different Montreal universities, including McGill and Concordia, in demanding their schools cut ties and funding from Israeli institutions and companies in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza. That offensive was an answer to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which led to the deaths of more than 1,200 Israelis and foreigners. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Signs erected around the encampment showed support from student groups representing McGill, Concordia and Université du Québec à Montréal. People could be seen arriving to drop off supplies throughout the day Monday, including folding tables, food and large Palestinian flags.
Maria, a McGill student staying in the encampment who refused to give her last name, pointed to how McGill students voted in favour of a pro-Palestinian policy last semester only to have it challenged in court.
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“We’ve exhausted every institutional and official channel, and now we have to escalate toward an unavoidable presence,” she said. “We want the university to respect its students’ demands.”
Students who have been staying in the encampment since the weekend strongly contested university claims of antisemitic language and intimidating behaviour on site. They characterized the protest as interfaith and inclusive.
“Last night, we had a beautiful, peaceful Passover seder where everyone was engaged and respectful,” said Concordia University student Zia, between helping people create posters to affix to the fence. Zia also did not give her last name.
“This is not a place for antisemitism or hatred of any people,” she added. She said many members of the Jewish community have been present at the site since Saturday. “We just want the death to stop and we want our universities to divest.”
In an initial statement issued Monday morning, McGill said the situation at the site had “shifted significantly” over the weekend and the number of tents on campus had tripled since Saturday.
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The university contends it saw video evidence of “some people using unequivocally antisemitic language and intimidating behaviour, which is absolutely unacceptable on our campuses.”
In a subsequent statement issued later Monday, McGill said efforts to talk with student representatives involved in the encampment in order to reach a “mutual resolution” had failed.
The university said it was informed by the students’ legal representation that they intend to remain on campus indefinitely.
“As a result, we have moved on to next steps governed by our operating procedures on demonstrations, protests and occupations, which include efforts to de-escalate before moving to steps that involve police assistance,” the university said.
“Should the situation evolve further beyond the university’s protocols, we will have a duty to request police support in order to protect the health and safety of all on site,” it added.
Quebec Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry told reporters Sunday she is “very preoccupied and concerned about the situation on campus because we’ve seen what happened in the last couple weeks and days in the United States and Europe.”
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Déry said she was in close contact with the university as well as Public Security Minister François Bonnardel.
“I don’t want the situation to degenerate, to get out of control,” she added.
Following McGill’s first statement, the encampment’s organizers issued a message on social media calling on people to help reinforce it in case police moved to dismantle it.
The coalition of students forming the Montreal Popular University of Gaza have made our demands clear.
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By mid-afternoon, they said they had reason to think the threat of police moving in had receded. Students who spoke to the Gazette from the encampment all said they understand there’s a risk of a police response if the university calls for it, but believe the cause is worth it.
“We are going to stay until our demands are met,” said the representative for SPHR McGill.
“What we are seeing is an administration essentially calling police on their own students,” she added, “who are simply demanding that their tuition money stops being used to invest in corporations manufacturing weapons being used against people in Gaza.”
With files from Paul Cherry and the Canadian Press.
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