Pro-Palestinian protest occupation that led to police using tear gas was not peaceful, McGill says

McGill University says the occupation of a campus building by pro-Palestinian student protesters that led to police intervention and multiple arrests on Thursday is just the latest in a series of escalations that are threatening and not peaceful.

In its latest, unsigned statement sent Friday, McGill said protesters occupying the James Administration Building blockaded entry doors, damaged furniture and vandalized parts of the building. The university said staff “were forced to shelter in place while those occupying the building banged on the doors and yelled threats.”

Within a few hours of the late Thursday afternoon occupation, Montreal police in full riot gear advanced on the chanting crowd of protesters outside the building using tear gas, pepper spray and batons, clearing them from campus. More officers were visible inside the building where other protesters had settled. The night ended with 15 arrests.

The protest encampment on the nearby lawn, erected in late April, was left untouched.

Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant said Friday that 13 people were arrested for breaking and entering and two others were charged with obstructing police officers’ work. All were released and will appear in court at a later date. He said no one was injured during the police intervention.

McGill said other recent incidents include graffiti on university buildings, verbal altercations between protesters and other students, and the hanging with a noose of an effigy of an Israeli politician on the Roddick Gates, an entry to the campus on Sherbrooke Street. It also said that masked protesters “targeted the personal residences of senior management,” but did not say how.

“None of this is peaceful protesting; it is designed to threaten, coerce and scare people. It is completely unacceptable,” the McGill statement said.

The students’ occupation of the administration building was part of a wave of protests on campuses across North America and beyond in recent months in response to Israel’s assault on Gaza that followed Hamas’s 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 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.

In its statement, McGill said its administration “has repeatedly tried to engage in dialogue with McGill students in the encampment” but that its offer, of which it shared no details other than it “is comparable to that made by other universities,” was rejected.

In social-media posts, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill, one of the prominent student-protester groups involved in the encampment and related actions, said McGill has refused to heed students’ demands and continues to engage in legal and disciplinary action against student protesters.

SPHR McGill did not immediately answer a request for comment regarding the university’s allegations.