MONTREAL– McGill University closed its downtown campus on Wednesday as Montreal police came in large numbers to help clear a pro-Palestinian encampment that has been there for weeks.
McGill President Deep Saini called the Canadian university’s camp, one of many that had sprung up on campuses across North America since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, “a heavily fortified focal point for intimidation and violence, organized largely by individuals who are not part of our university community.”
Under heavy rain, pro-Palestinian protesters moved their belongings off campus, while bulldozers and security forces dismantled the camp that had been in the school’s lower field.
“That was officially the last stand. There’s no one in the camp anymore,” said protester Felix Burt, 20, standing a block from McGill’s lower field, where a pile of tents and wooden pallets were what remained of the protest site.
A Montreal police spokesperson said one person was arrested Wednesday for assaulting a security officer.
In Quebec City, Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry told reporters that “it was time” to remove protesters from the camp.
Déry said the atmosphere on campuses has become “toxic” and expressed hope that things will be calmer when fall classes begin.
Zaina Karim, a McGill student who was not inside the camp when the dismantling began, said protesters will persist until the university reveals and severs its ties to Israel.
“This is not the end at all,” Karim said.
Protesters on campus have demanded that the university end its investments related to Israel’s military and cut ties with Israeli institutions over the Gaza offensive.
In recent months, students on campuses across North America have built encampments, occupied buildings, and led protests calling on colleges and universities to get rid of your endowments of companies do business with israel or who support his war in Gaza.
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