Pro-Palestinian Encampments Erected on Canadian Campuses

Quebec Premier Francois Legault said Thursday an encampment at Montreal's McGill University should be dismantled as more students erected pro-Palestinian camps across some of Canada's largest universities, demanding they divest from groups with ties to Israel.

The Canadian protests came as police have been arresting hundreds after similar anti-Israel encampments were raised on U.S. campuses.

Although McGill requested police intervention, law enforcement had not stepped in Thursday to clear the encampment and did not respond to Reuters' questions about their plans. Students also set up encampments at Canadian schools including the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Ottawa.

"We want the camp to be dismantled. We trust the police, let them do their job," a spokesperson for Legault said.

There was also a pro-Israel counter-protest in Montreal on Thursday. The sides were kept separate.

On Thursday morning, students at the University of Toronto set up an encampment in a fenced-off grassy space at the school's downtown campus, where about 100 protesters gathered with dozens of tents.

According to a statement from organizers, the encampment will stay until the university discloses its investments, divests from any that "sustain Israeli apartheid, occupation and illegal settlement of Palestine" and ends partnerships with some Israeli academic institutions.

Israel said it does not participate in apartheid and that its military operation in the Gaza Strip – in response to Iranian-backed Hamas' Oct. 7 terrorist attack – does not constitute genocide.

A University of Toronto spokesperson told Reuters it was "in dialog with the protesters" and that, as of midday, the encampment was "not disruptive to normal university activities."

Sara Rasikh, a University of Toronto graduate student and encampment spokesperson, told Reuters they will remain until their demands are met.

"If public disruption is the only way to get our voice heard, then we are willing to do that," she said.

Some Jewish groups have accused protesters of being antisemitic. Organizers deny that charge, noting that some protesters are Jewish.

Asked to comment on the encampments, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office pointed to a statement he made Tuesday, saying, "Universities are places of learning, they’re places for freedom of expression ... but that only works if people feel safe on campus. Right now ... Jewish students do not feel safe. That’s not right."

At least 1,200 Israeli civilians were massacred by Hamas on Oct. 7 and about 250 others were taken hostage. The death toll in Gaza is said to be about 34,000, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Healthy Ministry.