Pro-Palestinian encampment goes up at Victoria Square

A pro-Palestinian encampment went up at Victoria Square in downtown Montreal on Saturday.

Large blue, green and black tarps formed the border of the “Al-Sumud People’s Encampment” – with tents inside and more on the way.

Organizers with the Divest for Palestine Collective tell CityNews the location of the camp was not chosen at random. Protesters set up near the offices of the Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ) and the Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie (MRIF).

Benoît Allard, a member of the collective, called them “highly symbolic places related to our demands.”

“We are asking that the Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, the CDPQ, divest immediately its $14.2 billion in investments in companies complicit with Israeli occupation,” said Allard.

“And also we’re asking to the Government of Quebec the immediate shutdown of the Bureau du Québec in Tel Aviv.”

Allard says the encampment will remain at Victoria Square as long as their demands are not met.

It’s believed to be the first such camp in a public space in Montreal, after similar camps went up on the grounds of McGill University and UQAM.

“This is a public encampment,” Allard said. “We are people from all sections of society. We believe that our demands, if people know about how their money is being used, they can join us.”

Last month, a Quebec judge denied an injunction request from McGill, saying the university had failed to demonstrate an urgent need to dismantle the camp. McGill announced earlier this week it was ending negotiations with pro-Palestinian protesters who have demanded the university disclose and cut ties with Israel.

Pro-Palestinian protesters at UQAM dismantled their encampment after the university agreed to many of their demands, including disclosing its annual investments and refraining from holding investments in companies profiting from weapons manufacturing.

–With files from Gareth Madoc-Jones and The Canadian Press