People gather at a pro-Palestinian protest in front of the McGill University administration building in Montreal on June 6.Giuseppe Valiante
Montreal police in full riot gear advanced on pro-Palestinian student protesters who had occupied a building at McGill University on Thursday evening, as the officers cleared the area using gas and pepper spray, hit students with batons and made arrests.
Police in Montreal say 15 people have been arrested.
It took less than half an hour for police to clear the several dozen protesters who were chanting and had formed human chains behind makeshift barricades in front of the James Administration Building on the downtown campus. More officers were visible inside the building where other protesters had settled.
Officers made two or three charges into the line of protesters as the air became choked with smoke.
Montreal police spokesperson Sabrina Gauthier said there were no reports yet of injuries among protesters or police.
The students’ occupation of the administration building at McGill was part of a wave of protests, including tent encampments, that has unfolded at campuses across Canada and the United States in recent months in response to Israel’s assault on Gaza that followed Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
Some universities, including McGill, have asked the police and the courts to help them clear the encampments, which have become a backdrop to convocation ceremonies. The schools have argued that they are disrupting life on their campuses, interfering with other students’ use of their schools and intimidating to Jewish students. Protesters have called on universities to disclose where their money is invested, divest from companies connected to the Israeli military and break ties with some Israeli universities.
The encampment on the McGill campus was left untouched on Thursday as police forced protesters away from the administration building. Protesters then began an impromptu march chanting pro-Palestinian slogans and waving flags as they paraded down Sherbrooke Street under heavy rainfall.
Dozens of protesters then returned to campus where they again stood face to face with police.
Earlier in the evening, McGill University said in an unsigned statement that protesters were “occupying the main administration building” and that police and security services had been called.
McGill’s protest encampment was set up in late April and within days similar encampments appeared in campuses elsewhere in the country. Most of those remain in place, as university officials and police agencies have been reluctant to remove them by force, though there have been exceptions.
Earlier on Thursday, Toronto police cleared an encampment at York University a day after students set it up. The protesters were issued a trespass notice on Thursday morning, according to police, and dozens of officers subsequently moved in.
Toronto police said they acted at the request of York and said approximately 40 people left the encampment when directed to do so. One person was arrested under the Trespass to Property Act after returning to the camp, police said.
The university’s decision to call police sparked anger and disbelief among students and faculty who rallied at the site of the former encampment on Thursday afternoon.
“I can’t even express how horrified I am,” said Ethel Tungohan, a professor of politics at York.
“As a professor who tries to teach students about dissent and protest and how it’s a vital part of democracy, to see that stifled at my university is a punch in the gut.”
York University said the encampment was set up on the Harry W. Arthurs Common on Wednesday morning without permission, and that protesters were informed by campus security they were not allowed to do so.
“York’s campuses must be accessible for all community members and visitors – the Common is intended for use as a space for study, work and leisure,” the university administration said in a note to campus Thursday.
The provincial government has previously called for the encampments to end to protect the health and safety of all involved. Some Jewish groups have said the encampments have made some students feel unsafe on campus. B’nai Brith thanked the university and police for their actions, saying they set an example for other institutions.
York president Rhonda Lenton was not available for an interview.
By Thursday afternoon approximately 200 protesters had gathered on the common to denounce the university’s actions.
The swift move to break up the encampment at York is similar to the response seen at the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta, where protests were forcefully broken up by police shortly after they were established.
The sudden police response at York was a stark contrast to other campus protests that have been allowed to remain in place for weeks, including at the University of Toronto, where the same police force that intervened at York has declined to clear an encampment despite requests from police administrators. Instead, the school is seeking a court order.
McMaster and Ontario Tech administrators have successfully negotiated an end to the protests. McGill has sought unsuccessfully so far to win a court order that would authorize police to clear the camp while the U of T’s application to the Ontario Superior Court is expected to be heard later this month.
McGill has twice sought court injunctions to clear the encampment, but both of those applications were rejected.
McGill University president Deep Saini criticized police last month, calling it “baffling” that they didn’t intervene in the face of what he described as activity designed to “threaten, coerce and scare people.” He said administrators had been targeted at their homes more than once.
-With a file from The Canadian Press