Anti-Israel encampments spread across Canadian university campuses

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Several days after an anti-Israel protest encampment was established at Montreal’s McGill University, the school has turned to the police and students have turned to the courts to try to have the protesters removed, while encampments and protests emerge at other Canadian universities.

“We informed participants that this encampment was not authorized and gave them time to gather their belongings and leave the premises. However, most have chosen to remain,” the university said in an emailed statement to National Post. “As we have failed to reach a resolution, university leadership decided to take the final step in our protocol, and requested police assistance late afternoon yesterday.”

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Meanwhile, two McGill students were to be in court Tuesday afternoon seeking an injunction to have the encampment, which is demanding McGill cut ties with Israeli universities, removed.

“It creates a dangerous, hostile, aggressive and violent environment for students, staff and professors, as well as for those participating in the encampment,” the two students claim.

On Saturday, McGill University became the first campus in Canada to see an anti-Israel protest encampment established, following protest movements across the United States at dozens of campuses that have seen tent cities erected and administration buildings stormed and occupied by protesters.

On Monday, demonstrators also formed an encampment at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, demanding the university divest from Israel, embrace an academic boycott of the Jewish State and “respect the right to resist from Turtle Island to Palestine.”

Community notes distributed to visitors permitted to enter the so-called “Liberated Zone” include an agreement “not to talk to cops or campus security,” “engage with agitators or counter-protesters,” and never to “share names or personal details of anyone we meet in this encampment.”

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Signage displayed outside the encampment on UBC’s campus in Vancouver warned, “Zionists f–k off,” while others carried messages such as “End Zionism by any means necessary. Free Palestine.”

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Two Ontario universities, the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa, attempted on Monday to head off any potential protesters, informing students that while they had the right to assembly and protest, establishing encampments or occupying campus grounds would not be tolerated.

“We continue to call on all members of our community to treat each other with respect and empathy as they interact in our classrooms, common spaces, and online,” Éric Bercier, the university’s Associate Vice-President of Student Affairs said in a statement on Monday.

On Monday, uOttawa’s Palestinian Students Association held a demonstration on Tabaret Lawn on the University of Ottawa campus, demanding the school cut ties with defence and security companies that provide weapons to Israel. But, they didn’t stick around.

Jesse Robichaud, the manager of media relations at the university, said there were no overnight tents and the crowd dispersed by 9 p.m. Monday.

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In Vancouver and Montreal, though, the protests seem more entrenched.

Itai Bavli, a postdoctoral fellow specializing in racism and public health and a self-described “peace activist,” said that despite agreeing with the protesters about Palestinian self-determination at the UBC protest, when he raised the matter of coexistence with Israel he was asked to leave the encampment.

“I was super respectful. I told them multiple times that I’m a peace activist, that I support the Palestinians, that I’m against the occupation,” Bavli wrote on X. “I explained that I came here to have dialogue and that I respect them. They gathered around me and called the organizers, who took me aside. The moment I said I believe Israel has the right to exist, they told me I was not allowed to enter. I said that I’m disappointed because I believe in peace. It breaks my heart. I teach at UBC.”

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The UBC encampment, also referred to as the People’s University for Gaza, has been actively promoted by Charlotte Kates, the leader of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a virulently anti-Israel movement with ties to designated terror group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

On Friday, Kates addressed a crowd outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, calling the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas “heroic and brave.” The comments drew the condemnation of B.C. Premier David Eby, who called the remarks “reprehensible.”

“Celebrating the murder, the rape of innocent people attending a music festival, it’s awful,” the NDP leader said during a press conference on Monday.

UBC did not respond to National Post’s request for comment on Tuesday. The encampment on UBC grounds is about 30 tents strong, and Naisha Khan, a spokesperson for the organizers, told The Canadian Press that protesters would not leave until UBC supported Palestinian “resistance” and a right of return for Palestinians to their former homes in Israel.

Eby also said that the UBC campus, while a protected ground for free speech, must ensure that all students feel safe, and that Jewish students feel “particularly alone on campuses and need additional support to feel safe.”

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So far, UBC says it has been keeping in touch with the RCMP. But, unlike Montreal, it has yet to escalate to the point where police or courts are needed to clear out protesters.

Video circulating on social media showed anti-Israel demonstrators at McGill shouting at counter-protesters to “Go back to Europe” and “All the Zionists are racist.”

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On Monday, negotiations between protesters and McGill administration broke down.

Tensions continued to escalate at McGill after demonstrators failed to vacate school property in Montreal, prompting the school to reach out to local law enforcement for help.

“Having to resort to police authority is a gut-wrenching decision for any university president,” said Deep Saini, McGill’s president, in an email to students.

In the hours since the university contacted police, extra tarps have been added to tents and the fencing erected has been reinforced. A call had gone out to the community to bolster the number of protesters. “(Protesters) have been briefed on how to de-escalate and how to make sure that they are in a position of least risk possible,” said student student Leila Khaled.

The Montreal police service confirmed it had received a request for assistance from McGill.

“We are evaluating the various possible avenues and advocating for a peaceful outcome,” police spokesperson Véronique Dubuc said.

With additional reporting by National Post wire services

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