In the early hours of July 10, police swarmed the lower field of McGill’s downtown campus to dismantle the student-led Palestine solidarity encampment. After being forced out, campers protested under the rain on Rue Sherbrooke alongside supporters from the broader Montreal community. The action by McGill’s administration brought an end to the 75-day encampment, which was established on April 27.
McGill hired private company Sirco—which specializes in investigation and security—to examine and dismantle the encampment. McGill’s Media Relations Office explained to The Tribune that Sirco’s findings “provided the basis of the information” in McGill President Deep Saini’s July 10 message to staff and students.
In this message, Saini highlighted several reasons that the university acted to remove the encampment. He stressed the presence of individuals from outside the McGill community, health and safety risks such as drug overdoses and a rat infestation, and the encampments’ ties to an escalation of vandalism and violence.
“The University permits peaceful, lawful protest, even uncomfortable for some members of our community. However, harassment, intimidation, violence, threats, vandalism, occupation or forced entry and psychological or physical violence are completely unacceptable,” the Media Relations Office wrote in an email to The Tribune. “Our top priority is the safety and wellbeing of all involved.”
Student protestors from McGill, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÁM), and Concordia University initially formed the encampment to pressure McGill and Concordia to meet their demands in taking an active stance against Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. First, protestors called on McGill to disclose and divest from holdings valued at less than $500,000 in institutions complicit in Israel’s siege on Gaza; McGill’s investments worth over $500,000 are already publicly available. Protestors also demanded that their respective universities call on the Canadian government to condemn Israel’s war on Gaza—which has killed over 39,300 people since Oct. 7 2023 as of July 29 2024. Finally, they urged McGill and Concordia to refrain from punishing student protestors supporting the encampment with disciplinary actions.
McGill’s dismantling of the encampment came after tensions between the administration and student protestors escalated over the course of the summer. On May 10, McGill filed an injunction request to dismantle the encampment, an action that the Québec Superior Court denied. A month later, on the evening of June 6, protestors occupied the James Administration building for several hours. Police used pepper spray and tear gas on supporters outside the building during the occupation and ultimately arrested 13 protestors for breaking and entering and two protestors for obstruction of police. The following day, McGill President Deep Saini wrote a statement thanking police for their intervention and condemning the occupation.
Shortly after, the university’s negotiations with encampment representatives also ended. On June 11, McGill issued a proposal that promised to grant amnesty to student protestors, increase connections with Palestinian scholars and institutions, disclose and consider divestment from weapons manufacturers, and speed up the process by which this issue would be brought before the Board of Governors’ (BoG) Investment Committee if the encampment was dismantled. However, June 18, Saini released another statement informing readers that encampment representatives had rejected the university’s offers and that McGill would end discussions with the protestors. Encampment organizers have maintained that they believe McGill’s offer did not present material steps towards divestment.
At a July 10 press conference held by encampment representatives after the administration began the overhaul, a representative who wished to remain unnamed expressed that they felt the university administration had demonstrated no commitment to ensuring a “peaceful end” to the encampment by complying with their demands.
“We, the students who have set up this encampment, have made it clear from its first day of inception that we are willing to pack up and go home so long as the university commits to divesting from companies complicit in war and genocide,” the representative said.
While the encampment was being dismantled, McGill sent out a notification alerting staff and students that the downtown campus was closed to members of the community and to the public.
Another notification on the same day explained that these restrictions were designed to mitigate the threat of “ongoing risks of additional property damage or new occupations.” It also stressed the need to decontaminate the site of the encampment due to the presence of human waste, rats, garbage, and discarded syringes. At the July 10 press conference, the representative claimed that McGill’s allegations of illicit drug use at the encampment were categorically false and that the university used photos of syringes present on Rue Sherbrooke to mischaracterize the camp.
“The administration has been actively leading a defamation campaign against its own students and community,” the representative said. “People who have braved thunderstorms, electricity cutoffs and intimidation tactics because they are appalled at their university’s complicity in this genocide. ”
When asked about the claims that the university had misrepresented drug use at the encampment, McGill Media Relations told The Tribune that Sirco and university security “verified that emergency vehicles were called to the encampment twice in the days leading up to its dismantlement to deal with drug overdoses.”
“While Sirco investigators did find drug paraphernalia, the University never used images of syringes in any of its communications nor did it provide images to media,” McGill wrote.
Throughout the day on July 10, a crowd protested the dismantlement of the encampment on Rue Sherbrooke near Roddick gates. There, professors and students alike voiced that the end of the encampment will not halt further pro-Palestinian mobilization on campus. A faculty lecturer present emphasized the solidarity between students and faculty in demanding justice from McGill.
“I feel really ashamed of the McGill administration,” they said. “The professors do not want to be complicit in genocide, and we demand that they divest, they disclose, they meet the student’s demands. Even [as] the encampment ends today, we’re still holding [McGill] accountable.”
Since July 10, access to the university’s lower campus remained restricted, and the university asked students and staff to work remotely if possible.
In a statement released on July 18, Saini also noted that the university would carry out several actions in line with their previous offers to the encampment. The BoG’s Committee on Sustainability and Social Responsibility (CSSR) will consider divesting from weapons manufacturing companies regardless of where or for what country they operate. McGill will also host two scholars or students in conjunction with the Scholars-at-Risk Network and will disclose investments under $500,000 where possible in the next report of the university’s investment pool in August.
A representative from the encampment—who wished to remain unnamed—highlighted in an interview on July 10 that student mobilization for Palestine would not be deterred by McGill’s removal of the encampment.
“The student movement never started with the encampment, and won’t end with the encampment,” they told The Tribune. “Students are still going to stay strong in solidarity to continue applying pressure on McGill and to continue the divestment campaign.”
