Police use tear gas on crowd as pro-Palestinian activists occupy McGill University building

Montreal police used tear gas to disperse a crowd of protesters and arrested 15 people on Thursday evening after masked demonstrators occupied the third floor of McGill University’s James Administration Building.

Around 6 p.m., a group of people chanting pro-Palestinian slogans entered the building on the university’s downtown campus, where a pro-Palestinian protest camp has stood since April 27 despite the university’s attempts to have it dismantled. 

This time, Montreal police wearing riot gear went into the building, removed flags and banners placed by the protesters including one that said, “You could have divested 41 days ago,”  and escorted the protesters out by 8 p.m. 

The police also faced off with protesters who gathered outside the administration building. They used tear gas to disperse the crowd around 7:30 p.m.

On Friday morning, the encampment remained standing, but Montreal police said they had arrested 13 people for breaking and entering and two others for interfering with police officers. 

A Montreal police spokesperson said protesters threw objects at police officers and vandalized the exterior of the administration building. 

Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill posted a lengthy statement on Telegram, saying the university has so far shut down its demands for McGill to divest from companies with ties to Israel. 

“Students have blockaded themselves inside the building to take ownership of the university that continues to fund and be complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people,” the statement read. 

“As the Zionist forces push deeper into Rafah, perpetrating horrific crimes and massacres, McGill administrators shamelessly refuse to cut financial and academic ties.”

The occupation Thursday happened hours after an encampment that had been set up at the Université du Quebec à Montréal (UQAM) came down. Activists there said they would leave after UQAM’s board of directors unanimously approved a resolution agreeing to most of their demands.

Rula Jurdi Abisaab, a professor of Islamic history at McGill, attended the protest Thursday evening. 

“The university is actually putting its head in the sand.… This is shameful, this is all shameful,” Abisaab told CBC News. 

“The students have been agitating for a rightful, just and moral cause which is asking McGill incessantly, through all kinds of means, to declare and divest from companies, weapons and technological companies that are complicit with the genocide which Israel has been carrying against the Palestinian people.”

In a statement Friday morning, a McGill University spokesperson said the attempted occupation of the administration building was the latest escalation by pro-Palestinian protesters that went beyond peacefully protesting. 

The spokesperson said the protesters chained doors shut, damaged furniture inside the building and forced staff to shelter in place “while those occupying the building banged on the doors and yelled threats.”

“McGill supports the right to freedom of expression within the limits recognized by law. We strongly condemn the use of intimidating, aggressive, harassing or illegal tactics such as those seen yesterday,” the statement said. 

Last week, McGill president Deep Saini published a letter calling for a stronger police response following escalating tensions. Saini listed incidents where protesters had hung an effigy of “an Israeli politician” outside the university’s campus and demonstrated outside university officials’ homes.

He also described how a table with rotting food was left outside one university office with the names of staff members listed on a sign and red handprints next to them. 

Montreal police have so far taken a passive approach to the more than month-long pro-Palestinian encampment.

Two court injunction requests to dismantle the encampment have so far been refused by Quebec Superior Court judges.

WATCH | Who has the right to protest on campus?: 

As pro-Palestinian encampments pop up on university campuses across Canada, there’s a renewed focus on freedom of expression.