After the Quebec Superior Court refused its request for an interim injunction on Wednesday, McGill University is “taking the next step” and will file a request for an interlocutory injunction.
The goal of this new request is still the same, namely to allow the dismantling of the pro-Palestinian camp installed on the university campus since the end of April.
Lawyers for the Montreal university filed a request for a provisional injunction earlier this week aimed at ordering demonstrators to stop camping or occupying its grounds. McGill also wanted the Montreal police to be able to help him dismantle the encampment if necessary.
Quebec Superior Court Judge Marc St-Pierre ruled Wednesday in favor of the protesters, noting that the university had not reported a “serious or violent incident” since the camp was set up.
The university institution, however, maintains that the occupation of its campus, which is private property, is illegal. This is why she will file a new request for an interlocutory injunction.
“We maintain that as owner of the premises, McGill University has the right to authorize the use of its land and buildings,” the university said in a statement.
She says she does not oppose free speech and the right to protest, but “asks that protests remain within the bounds of the law and its policies.”
McGill also says she is open to dialogue with the demonstrators and recalls that she has met them six times since May 3.
Protesters occupy an area including dozens of tents in McGill’s lower grounds on April 27, following a wave of similar protests on campuses in the United States linked to the war between Israel and Hamas. Other similar camps have also emerged elsewhere in the country, notably at UQAM, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax.
All are demanding that their universities withdraw investments from companies they see as complicit in what they describe as Israel’s occupation of Palestine. At McGill, they are also demanding that the university cut its ties with Israeli institutions.