Around thirty pro-Palestinian activists blocked a railway line on Saturday in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, in Montérégie, said the Longueuil agglomeration police service (SPAL).
Protesters blocked the railway at the intersection of Seigneurial and Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier boulevards from 10 a.m. until early afternoon.
The railway, which belongs to Canadian National, links Montreal and Halifax.
In a Facebook publication posted around 1:15 p.m., SPAL indicates that a 31-year-old woman and a 33-year-old man were arrested during the demonstration. The woman faces charges of mischief and the man faces charges of assault and obstructing police officers.
“During the intervention, four police officers were inconvenienced by pepper spray,” it is written in the SPAL publication. No demonstrators were injured, the police said.
SPAL also said the crowd dispersed.
The BDS Ad Hoc Direct Action Collective claimed in a statement that goods are being shipped to Israel from Halifax, and that by blocking the railway they have closed “a vital artery for trade between Canada and the Zionist state.” According to them, the goods are being sent to Haifa on ships owned by the company Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd.
“The Zionist state could not continue its violent occupation without material support from Western states. All trade with so-called Israel, not just arms exports, supports genocidal violence and must be stopped,” the statement read.
In a video published late Saturday morning on the social networks of the Solidarity Without Borders group, present at the demonstration, we could see masked demonstrators in the rain.
The group did not want to give a telephone interview to The Canadian Press.