Two McGill University students appeared in Montreal Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon to request a temporary injunction prohibiting five pro-Palestinian groups and all of their members from demonstrating within 100 meters of university buildings. . A legal action which did not prevent a camp aiming to denounce the violence of the attacks by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip to continue his activities, in the pouring rain.
The request does not directly aim to dismantle the encampment, but given the limited green space where it is currently installed, a ban on being less than 100 meters from the buildings could have this effect. These various groups — such as Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights Concordia and Montréal4Palestine — are also required not to threaten people on campus and not to create a hostile environment that would cause McGill students would not feel safe going to their classes.
“We are here for justice,” declared the students’ lawyer, Neil Oberman, before judge Chantal Masse. People have the right to be safe. » The judge, however, did not render a decision in this case on Tuesday, wishing to have time to fully examine it. If this injunction is granted, pressure groups and McGill University will then be required to post it online on their sites as well as on their respective social networks so that everyone is informed.
The allegations supporting the injunction request allege a hostile climate on the university campus characterized by chants and slogans such as “Long live the intifada” and “Zionists are racist.” Numerous videos of the protests were filed as evidence.
“I am a Jewish person, and one of the particularities of this injunction is that they really only focused on Palestinian people,” lamented Ari Nahman, a Jewish student at the Concordia University met in front of this encampment calling for the “liberation of Palestine”. However, the organization Independent Jewish Voices, of which she is a member, is among the organizers of the process, she notes. Many Jewish students occupy tents in this camp, she stressed.
“We are organizing ourselves to show that Jewish people here feel safe,” continues M.me Nahman, according to whom this request for an injunction “has the objective of dividing” the students.
Ali Salman, one of the organizers of the camp, also finds it difficult to see how this mobilization could be considered “hostile” for the students since “we literally had a space for children this weekend” on McGill grounds. He also claims not to have witnessed any anti-Semitic remarks within the ranks of the demonstrators.
McGill University, for its part, sent Duty a video she is “investigating”, where demonstrators can be seen claiming that “all Zionists are racists” and “terrorists”. However, it is difficult to determine whether this video was filmed in the context of this encampment.
“This incident was not with people from the camp; they were people nearby who were taking part in a demonstration,” replies Ari Nahman.
McGill University did not respond to our interview requests.
Police intervention requested
The university establishment also requested the intervention of the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM) on Tuesday to dismantle the encampment on its site, which has grown since Saturday. There were some 80 tents on Tuesday, a number comparable to the day before, although some were damaged by episodes of rain, noted The duty.
” Yesterday [lundi], at the end of the afternoon, noting the absence of a resolution, the university management took the decision to undertake the last step included in its protocol, and requested the intervention of the police forces. indicates an email sent by McGill to the media on Tuesday. “The safety and well-being of our entire student population and staff are our primary concerns,” the statement added.
Already, on Monday, tension had risen a notch in this camp, which receives the support of several university professors. On Tuesday afternoon, however, the atmosphere remained festive at the site as around a hundred demonstrators who came to support the student campers gathered to chant slogans demanding an end to Israel’s military interventions in Gaza.
However, the activities were briefly disrupted by the passage of a few people claiming to be pro-Israel and opposed to this mobilization. “What are you doing on McGill grounds?” » chanted one of them repeatedly before leaving the scene without making waves.
“No matter what happens, we will stay here to prove our point,” said a determined Ali Salman.
Protesters demand McGill University stop investing in Israeli companies associated with bombings that have killed more than 34,500 people in Gaza in nearly seven months, according to Hamas, and to cut ties with Israeli academic institutions .
Attempt at “peaceful resolution”
The SPVM, for its part, confirmed having received a request for assistance from the management of McGill University. “For the future, we are evaluating the different possible avenues, advocating a peaceful outcome,” the police force said on Tuesday on the social network X.
“We have confidence in the ability of the SPVM to maintain the safety of all in a respectful and sensitive manner, as it has done since the start of the conflict,” wrote the head of public security to the City’s executive committee on the same platform. from Montreal, Alain Vaillancourt.
The SPVM confirms having received a request for assistance from @uMcGill regarding the camp on his campus. Moving forward, we are evaluating the different possible avenues, advocating a peaceful outcome.
— Montreal Police (@SPVM) April 30, 2024
At the end of the afternoon, no police were present on the land where the camp was set up, near Sherbrooke Street. But a possible police intervention continued to worry professors at McGill University, many of whom in recent days showed their support for this peaceful mobilization.
“It is always worrying because the involvement of the police constitutes a threat of violence,” noted professor of Arabic literature at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University Michelle Hartman.
“The concern is of course that students will be hurt,” also raised professor at the McGill School of Religious Studies Lara E. Braitstein, who deplored an attempt to “suppress the voices of people who are trying to come together peacefully to oppose genocide.”