Montreal police assessing pro-Palestinian encampment at Victoria Square: ‘We do not want violence’

Montreal police say they are assessing the situation at Victoria Square after a pro-Palestinian encampment went up in the public space downtown.

The SPVM says it will speak to organizers before deciding to take any action.

“For now, we do not want to (provoke) some maybe fight or something like that,” SPVM spokesperson Sabrina Gauthier told CityNews. “We’re going to try to communicate with the people. They are in Square Victoria, want to try (to establish) what they want and for what they are there. And we do not want violence. So that’s why we’re going to take our time.

“For now, there are more police around the Square Victoria for the day.”

Twenty-four hours after the Victoria Square encampment began going up on Saturday afternoon – the latest in Montreal after the camp at McGill University and the now-defunct camp at UQAM – organizers say they are looking to grow their protest.

“We are expanding this camp,” said Benoît Allard, a member of Divest for Palestine Collective. “We are expecting people to join us. People are currently joining us. We are getting more and more people involved.

“We are, as we are speaking, setting up this place to be a welcoming space for everybody supporting our demands.”

On Sunday protesters erected white marquees at the “Al-Sumud People’s Encampment,” which is surrounded by large blue, green and black tarps. The tarps feature messages like “Decolonize” and “No more bloody money.”

The Divest for Palestine Collective is demanding the province’s pension fund manager, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), which has offices nearby, to cut ties with Israeli institutions it accuses of being complicit in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

They are also asking the Quebec government’s Ministry of International Relations and La Francophonie to close its office in Tel Aviv, Israel.

“This is a citizen protest,” Allard told CityNews. “We are protesting against our institutions, their decisions. So we have a right to be here. We have organizations backing us. So this is why we’re staying here. And the police are aware of that.

“We want to hear what the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has to say, what the Government of Quebec has to say about this and about our demands. And then we’ll consider that, we’ll listen to what they’re saying. And if they don’t agree to divest, if they don’t do it soon, well, people here are going to decide what are the next steps.”

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The organizers are vowing to remain at Victoria Square until their demands are met.

“People can get here in Square Victoria,” Allard said. “We are here to welcome people, to help them get involved and stand with us.”

The camp is modelled on others that went up in Montreal and across campuses in Canada and the U.S.

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 The Canadian Press