Threatened by court action and storms, encampment at McGill continues

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McGill University has asked for police assistance to clear the pro-Palestinian encampment on its campus, university president Deep Saini said in an email to the community Tuesday morning.

“Having to resort to police authority is a gut-wrenching decision for any university president,” Saini said. “It is, by no means, a decision that I take lightly or quickly. In the present circumstances, however, I judged it necessary.”

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Calling it a “difficult and complex situation”, Saini said the university made the decision to ask for police assistance late Monday.

“We informed participants that this encampment was not authorized and gave them time to gather their belongings and leave the premises. However, the encampments remain. As we worked through the steps, we also engaged in dialogue with representatives of McGill students,” Saini said.

“As we have failed to reach a resolution, yesterday late afternoon we took we the final step in our protocol, and requested police assistance. Police representatives, who have expertise in skillfully resolving situations such as these, are beginning their own process. We continue to work with them to resolve the matter.”

Saini’s email came hours before a Montreal lawyer is to file a request in Montreal court for a injunction seeking the dismantling of the encampment. Lawyer Neil Oberman is representing two students at the hearing, which is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Students in the encampment insisted Tuesday morning that they remain committed to their cause.

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McGill student Leila Khaled said the protestors resorted to an encampment after they exhausted all their options.

“Students have been trying to pass policies and motions against genocide  —  which you would assume would be an easy thing to do, because who wants to support a genocide. Students have tried peaceful protests, rallies, workshops, teach-ins and many other methods to get the university to divest from companies that manufacture weapons and they’ve refused,” she said. “At every turn they have completely turned down everything and have not even negotiated to come to any sort of compromise. And to be frank, there is no compromise to be had when it comes to genocide.”

Khaled said students are prepared in case of a police response.

“They have been briefed on how to deescalate and how to make sure that they are in a position of least risk possible,” she said. “We do not want students getting arrested, but clearly administration does if they are calling the cops on their own students.”

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With McGill threatening to move toward dismantling the camp, the protesters had asked people to help support the protest overnight. More tarps covering the tents had been added by morning and the fence surrounding them had been reinforced.

A man with a McGill-branded umbrella stopped by the encampment Tuesday morning to drop off a dozen powdered donuts and wish campers good luck with the weather.

“People are staying dry as best they can,” said a student who did not want to give their name. “But I don’t think it’s the rain that’s going to stop us.”

The camp was erected on the lower part of the university’s downtown Montreal campus Saturday and has been steadily growing ever since.

The protest is meant to bring together students from different Montreal universities in demanding their schools cut ties with Israeli institutions and companies in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

In an email to students and staff on Monday, Saini had urged students to leave the site, saying the protest had escalated to a point where it is no longer safe and that “hateful rhetoric has been flagrantly used” on the site.

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“It is both appalling and heartbreaking to see individuals occupying our campus to use it as a platform for obvious antisemitism,” Saini wrote.

Students have strongly rejected the claim their actions are antisemitic and say they’ve become accustomed to the university describing their different forms of protest as such in recent months.

“It’s a tactic to manufacture consent for a repressive escalation against students who, again, are demanding very simply for divestment and academic boycott,” said the student who spoke Tuesday morning.

“The demands are clear and until they’re met, we’re not going to leave. So every email only further enrages the people that are spending their time camping here and have passion for this,” he added.

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There was no police presence at the camp as of 8:45 a.m. Tuesday. There were no reports of any incidents overnight at the camp, and Montreal police have so far said there have not been any issues with the encampment.

Police officers did visit the camp to briefly speak with organizers Monday evening and kept watch on the site overnight. Signs near the encampment’s entrance state the fences are erected to keep police and agitators from entering.

Meanwhile, a new poll released Tuesday suggests that the vast majority of Canadians think a university campus is legitimate site for protest.

A total of 81 per cent of the 1,707 respondents of an Angus-Reid poll found that a university campus was an “acceptable” site for a protest, while 92 per cent believed that a city hall was a legitimate venue for a protest.

Those numbers dropped however when respondents were asked about picketing in front of houses of worship (54 per cent), public schools (49 per cent), the homes of public personalities such as politicians CEOs or diplomats (47 per cent) or abortion clinics (40 per cent).

jfeith@postmedia.com

This story will be updated.

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