A group of pro-Palestinian protesters have set up camp at McGill University’s downtown Montreal campus and say they are better organized and prepared than ever as protests stretch into a second week.
Protester Ari Nahman says the camp has become a “mini city”, with dozens of rainproof tents, a library, a storehouse of donated supplies and makeshift wooden sidewalks to keep out the mud.
On Sunday, camp members could be seen digging a shallow trench to drain the heavy rain, while others were working in a tent that served as a “free store” serving hot coffee, food and rain gear. I was working.
A group of University of Toronto students say they have started a campus protest to call on the university to sever its ties with Israel over the ongoing war in Gaza. Pro-Palestine activists are shown at a camp on the McGill University campus in Montreal, Tuesday, April 30, 2024.
Ryan Ramirez/The Canadian Press
Pro-Palestinian activists at their encampment on the McGill University campus in Montreal on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.
The Canadian Press/Ryan Ramirez
Pro-Palestinian activists have also set up tents at the University of Toronto, the University of Ottawa and the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver, following a wave of similar protests on United States campuses linked to the Israel-Hamas war.
Opponents of the camps have said the protests are illegal and make some Jewish students feel unsafe, and both McGill and Premier François Legault have asked police to help break up tents in Montreal.
Nahman, a member of the independent Jewish Voice Concordia, says the campers want to leave, but will not do so until their universities agree to withdraw funding from companies that protesters say are targeting Palestinians. Are supporting Israel’s action against.
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