The Superior Court authorized the request for a provisional injunction from the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM) aimed at partially dismantling the pro-Palestinian encampment installed on the lawn of the Pierre-Dansereau Science Complex.
The occupants of the camp will have to clear a space of two meters all along the pavilion, in order to create a circulation corridor. They will also have to remove any material obstructing doors, windows and security cameras.
“These security measures will not harm the exercise of the right to freedom of expression, including the right to demonstrate,” underlined Judge Louis-Joseph Gouin in his decision rendered Monday.
The university was not asking for the complete dismantling of the encampment, as McGill had formulated in a similar request rejected in May.
She even said she was ready to tolerate the presence of demonstrators, provided that they did not hinder free movement, access to and exit from buildings and that they did not damage property.
Tension had been rising around the pro-Palestinian camp for a week. Last weekend, clashes broke out between protesters and police, who resorted to sticks and irritant gas. The Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, appealed for calm.
“Security is currently in jeopardy and it is urgent to remedy this before an unfortunate event occurs,” underlined the judge.
Both parties presented their arguments Friday at the Montreal courthouse.
According to the university, protesters were seen entering the encampment with iron bars, pieces of asphalt and cans of gasoline.
She presented photos showing walls covered in graffiti, windows covered with trash bags and doors blocked with pieces of wood.
Representatives of the protesters responded that the doors identified by the university had since been unlocked.
They alleged that even partial dismantling would endanger the camp. “That is not the case,” replied the judge.
“Perhaps this will mean reducing the number of tents, or will invite the occupants of the Camp to be more promiscuous, but we cannot put security at greater risk to allow the occupants to occupy, at their ease, the almost the entire interior courtyard of the Complex,” he argued.
Earlier in May, the Superior Court rejected McGill University’s request for a provisional interlocutory injunction to dismantle the encampment, reinvigorating its occupants.
The university had failed to demonstrate the urgency of intervening, judge Marc St-Pierre ruled.
Since the first tents appeared, no violent incidents had been reported. Even the counter-demonstration mentioned by the university to illustrate the fear of an escalation of tensions “was carried out peacefully”, the judge emphasized.