After university campuses, public space. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators pitched their tents in Victoria Square on Saturday. In particular, they demand that the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) withdraw its investments in companies “complicit in the Israeli occupation”.
A crowd of demonstrators gathered in front of Victoria Square in the afternoon to offer their support to the new pro-Palestinian encampment occupying the site.
The Divest for Palestine collective demands “that CDPQ immediately divest from its $14.2 billion in investments in the 87 companies identified as complicit in the Israeli occupation,” according to a press release released on Saturday. The demonstrators also demand the closure of the Quebec Office in Tel Aviv.
“These are demands that have been made by different groups for months […]. We will not leave until our demands are heard,” said Benoit Allard, spokesperson for the Divest for Palestine committee, sitting in the center of Victoria Square. Behind him, tarpaulins tagged with slogans were stretched around the camp, hiding it from view.
The “Al-Soumoud Popular Camp”, which currently houses around fifty people, illustrates “a broadening of the mobilization” in support of the Palestinian people, according to Benoit Allard. “It is not only universities that are complicit in the Israeli occupation, there are also public institutions, the government of Quebec and the Caisse de dépôt et placement,” he asserts.