On Day 6 of McGill encampment, pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters face off

Two opposing protests faced off outside McGill University in downtown Montreal Thursday afternoon, where a pro-Palestinian encampment set up on Saturday remains in place.

The students in the encampment are demanding McGill divest from companies with business ties to Israel.

The encampment occupies a space of several thousand square metres on the university's large front lawn on Sherbrooke Street. It started with 20 tents and has grown significantly since the weekend, with many supporters showing up every day in addition to those camping there every night.

A pro-Israel demonstration was organized in response to the encampment Thursday afternoon. Protesters stood outside McGill's Roddick Gates, which were blocked by Montreal police on bicycles on horseback and in riot gear standing between the two protesting factions.

The pro-Israel demonstrators arrived at around 12:30 p.m. and waved Israeli flags and held signs saying "Release the hostages," and "Bring them home now." They played music in Hebrew and set up a large screen in front of the campus, where they played interviews from women who said they had experienced sexual violence at the hands of Hamas on Oct. 7.

On the other side of the police line and of the campus fence, a line of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, many of them members of Independent Jewish Voices, chanted slogans including "Jews against genocide," and "In our lifetime, we will see Palestinians living free." Organizers repeatedly asked people not to crowd the campus's main walkway and to stay further up from the street.

"Do not talk to Zionists, whatsoever. Do not engage," a man with a keffiyeh covering his face said in a microphone.

The pro-Israel demonstration of several hundred people wrapped up shortly after 3 p.m., after which Sherbrooke Street reopened to traffic.

An injunction request filed in Quebec Superior Court by two McGill students was rejected Wednesday by Justice Chantale Masse, who said the plaintiffs failed to show that the encampment caused them irreparable harm.

In her ruling, Masse wrote that if the injunction request were granted and protesters were removed, their "freedom of expression and to gather peacefully would be affected significantly."

Niall Clapham Ricardo, a Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) student in international law who is part of the group Independent Jewish Voices, has been stopping by the encampment on a daily basis to show support.

"There's not going to be no confrontation on our side. We are here just to show that we have the right to be here. We have the right to be heard, and the students have the right to call for the divestment of the universities," said Ricardo.

"We're going to keep on fighting until Palestine is free and until the genocide stops in Gaza."

For several days, McGill has been attempting to pressure protesters into dismantling the encampment. Earlier this week, the university requested "police assistance" and lent its name to a provisional court injunction request to force them to leave.

The encampment is one of many protests taking place on university campuses across North America that are in response to the growing death toll in the Gaza Strip.

Since Israel launched its military offensive in the Palestinian enclave last October, more than 34,000 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Israel's ongoing operation is in response to a Hamas-led attack in southern Israel which killed about 1,200 people and captured 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

The two protests appeared to try and drown each other out, with chanting and drumming on the encampment side and loud, upbeat music from the pro-Israel side.

Jamie Fabian, a McGill law student, spoke to the crowd of pro-Israel protesters, saying the use of the word "intifada" by  encampment protesters was a call for violence.

"We don't use violence when faced with violence," Fabian told the crowd. "Jewish people are indigenous to Israel. For us, it's not a question of politics, but a question of the survival of our people."

On several occasions in recent days, Montreal police have described the encampment protest as peaceful. However, McGill has said it is investigating a video that it says shows "unequivocally antisemitic" behaviour.

Just before noon Thursday, pro-Palestinian protesters lined up along the fence surrounding their encampment, chanting: "Why are you in riot gear? There is no violence here."

Take down encampment, premier says

Speaking to reporters at the National Assembly, Quebec Premier François Legault said Thursday that the encampment must be taken down.

"It's an illegal encampment," Legault said, echoing words that were used by the judge that ruled against the provisional injunction request.

"The law must be respected so I expect police to dismantle these encampments."

The premier's words appear to have resonated with some of the pro-Israel protesters who showed up to McGill on Thursday.

Rabbi Reuben Poupko, who addressed the crowd, also called for police to dismantle the encampment.

"I'm not the only one who said it. The premier of Quebec said it," he said.

Avishai Infeld, a member of Hillel Montreal and an alumni of McGill who helped organize the pro-Israel demonstration, said calling for a dismantling was not their goal. 

"It was very important just to show that the Jewish community is here, that we're present, that we're not going to let one side take control of the narrative," Infeld said. "I'm not making any demands. I'll let the police and the administration deal with it in the best way that they are able to," he said. 

Québec Solidaire MNA Haroun Bouazzi attended the pro-Palestinian protest Thursday, saying he wanted to see what the encampment was like for himself. 

Bouazzi said Legault's statement negated people's right to peaceful protest. 

"It's very sad that he didn't say anything about the investments that are part of the genocidal industry that is going on," Bouazzi said.

Many of the pro-Palestinian protesters have said they do not want to be identified by the media because they fear online harassment. 

Two young women who are students at Concordia University and McGill attended the campus protest with their mothers, who are also friends. 

One of the mothers, Manal Farkh, said her grandparents had fled Palestine in 1948 during the Arab-Israeli war. 

"I am very grateful that I'm encountering this in my lifetime because I still remember my grandparents' story about the Nakba in 1948 and for a very long time the situation was just not improving. But now the students are giving us hope that things will change and will be better for all," Farkh said. 

WATCH | How Thursday's protests are unfolding at McGill: 

• This week, CBC's Cross Country Checkup wants to know: Are protests an effective way to spark change? How are you resolving disputes in your own life around the Israel-Hamas conflict? Fill out the details on this form and have your say.