A major operation is underway Wednesday morning at McGill University in downtown Montreal, as the university’s management has decided to dismantle the pro-Palestinian camp set up on its campus since the end of April.
“The encampment poses a growing threat to health and safety. Therefore, in the interest of protecting the university community and the integrity of our property, the decision has been made to dismantle the encampment on the lower grounds of the downtown campus,” McGill said in a statement released Wednesday morning.
Around 6 a.m., members of McGill Security began informing protesters that they would have to leave. Some participants left the encampment and began protesting in the streets nearby.
Officers from the Montreal Police Department were dispatched to the scene to provide support. Numerous bicycle police officers, cavalry and officers from the Support and Specialized Interventions Section were deployed.
On social media, the group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, McGill Division, claimed that the camp was “under attack” and said it was in “urgent need” of support to “defend the camp.”
“Bring masks, goggles and personal safety equipment,” the group wrote in a post on its Instagram account.
In order to dismantle the encampment, the university administration announced that the downtown campus would be closed for the day. Events scheduled for Wednesday are canceled and the university community is asked not to go to the site.
Summer classes that were scheduled to be held on campus will instead take place virtually. Libraries are closed.
In response to the announcement of the dismantling, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and Federation CJA welcomed McGill University’s action to “prioritize the safety and well-being of its campus community, and to end the toxicity, hateful glorification of terrorism and targeting of Jewish students on campus.”
The protesters set up camp in late April, following similar demonstrations on other college campuses across North America.
Participants demanded that the university end its investments in companies that profit from Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip and that management cut ties between McGill and Israeli universities.
On two occasions, requests for injunctions to force the dismantling of the camp were rejected by the Superior Court.
Tensions at the camp reached a peak on June 6, when protesters broke into the university’s administration building. Police moved in and arrested 15 people.
Negotiations took place between the camp organizers and McGill administration, during which the university proposed measures to meet some of the protesters’ demands, but the talks did not convince participants to dismantle the encampment.
“As long as McGill continues to fund the ongoing genocide in Palestine, we will continue a campaign of escalation on campus,” protesters wrote in an Instagram post in early July.
Other camps set up elsewhere in Quebec have been dismantled by protesters following agreements with the universities concerned. Last week, the City of Montreal dismantled another camp that had been set up in Victoria Square.