Pro-Palestinian protesters have been cleared in downtown Montreal, and the McGill encampment remains

MONTREAL — At the request of the city of Montreal, police dismantled a pro-Palestinian encampment in the heart of the financial district on Friday, but the other, larger occupation on McGill’s downtown campus remained untouched.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante told reporters after Victoria Square was cleared that she had used a city bylaw to remove the protesters, whose two-week occupation, she said, had hindered citizens as well as firefighters and other workers. municipalities, to access a public space.

“We cannot permanently occupy a public site for whatever reason,” she said. “Public space must remain public.”

And as for the camp about a mile north, Plante said it’s located on private property. McGill, she added, must “take responsibility” for dismantling it. She blamed the university’s “complete lack of leadership” for why dozens of protesters have occupied its campus since late April.

“We’re stuck because they’ve gone through the courts,” Plante said, referring to the university’s failed attempt to get an emergency court order to forcibly remove the protesters. “They took that path, so now they have to be held accountable for it.”

Hours earlier, before sunrise, dozens of officers arrived in Victoria Square to clear protesters who had occupied the park since June 22. Municipal workers cut the metal shields around the tents and tore down tarps. About 15 protesters were moved to the outskirts of the market, and some were escorted back to the site by police to retrieve property. Protesters carried their belongings in crates and on bicycles, while city workers in orange vests loaded trucks with materials collected from the camp.

The protesters chose Victoria Square because it is located next to the headquarters of the provincial manager of the pension fund — the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. The demonstrators said they would not leave until the Caisse divests from companies they have identified as complicit with Israel and until the provincial government closes its office in the Middle Eastern country.

Pro-Palestinian protester Emma Jaubert, 20, said about 30 police officers showed up around 5 a.m. at the entrance to the camp.

“I was at the door … I was the first person to see them come here,” Jaubert said. “They showed up at the door and said, ‘You’re in public space.’ I have orders from (the city) to dismantle you.”

Contrary to the city’s claim that the dismantling was peaceful, Jaubert said the police acted violently to disperse the protesters.

“When the police came in, they threw one of our comrades to the ground and beat them…they also destroyed some of our tents.”

Later in the day, Plante said the decision to dismantle the camp “was not taken lightly” and that while protest is a Charter-protected right, occupying public space to protest cannot be unlimited.

In response to the Victoria Square police operation, McGill president Deep Saini issued a statement saying he expects Montreal police and the city to “remain consistent in their approach and act quickly to remove the encampment” from on the lower ground of the university.

Plante told reporters that McGill has so far failed to negotiate an agreement with the protesters, unlike the administration of the Université du Québec à Montréal, where demonstrators dismantled their camp after the university agreed to many of their demands, including -disclose their annual investments and refrain from purchasing securities related to companies that profit from arms production.

Earlier this week, red paint was sprayed at the entrance to the Caisse de dépôt offices and a statue at the nearby World Trade Center Montréal mall was vandalized. In June, shortly after protesters set up camp, they tried unsuccessfully to topple the statue of Queen Victoria, located in the square named after the late monarch.

Confronted by the vandalism and the length of the occupation at McGill, Public Security Minister François Bonnardel took to X earlier this week to criticize the city’s “passive approach” to the protesters.

Plante responded Friday, saying he would have preferred the provincial government to offer its support instead of making statements on social media.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 5, 2024.

Joe Bongiorno, Canadian Press