WARNING: This story contains an image of the Israeli flag being burned.
Large-scale pro-Palestinian demonstrations filled the streets of downtown Montreal on Tuesday afternoon as part of a series of demonstrations planned to mark two years of war in Gaza.
Dozens of CEGEP and university student associations across the city, representing more than 46,000 students, voted to strike on Monday and Tuesday in support of the Palestinians and the tens of thousands killed by Israeli forces in Gaza over the past two years.
Around 1pm, protesters, many wearing Keffiyehs, formed a large group near the corner of Mackay Street and De Maisonneuve Boulevard. Dozens of police officers were stationed nearby.
Earlier Tuesday morning, Concordia University announced it was closing its downtown campus to prevent “potentially obstructive” protests.
“Unless already scheduled, faculty may choose to move to remote delivery, if possible,” wrote Graham Carr, president and vice chancellor of Concordia University in an email to students.
Carr stated that the institution made the decision to close the campus on Tuesday to “protect our entire community.”
“Over the past two years, we have seen protests on campus, but we have never been forced to enact such preventative measures,” he wrote.
Tuesday marks the two-year anniversary since the Hamas attack in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to about 250 people being taken hostage in Gaza, according to many Israelis. Israel believes there are still 48 hostages in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
A day after the Hamas attack in 2023, Israel formally declared war on Hamas, and the military campaign that has followed has killed more than 67,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The extent of Israel’s military response has led to the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister and has led to accusations that Israel is committing genocide, a claim echoed last month by a United Nations Commission of Inquiry.
Israel has insisted that the arrest warrants and claims that it is committing genocide are absurd.
Students Demand Schools Stand Out
After demonstrations on Monday, more were held on Tuesday, filling areas such as the Square-Victoria-Oaci subway station with people holding signs denouncing genocide and calling for divestment from Israel. The dense crowd of people, blowing horns and singing, marched shoulder to shoulder through the downtown streets.
Many protesters waved Palestinian flags, while some lit smoke bombs. At one point, an Israeli flag was burned.
Among the protesters was University of Montreal student Ibtissam Machhouri. She said it’s important for healthcare students like her to “call out the genocide that’s happening right now.”
She said people in Gaza, including health workers and journalists, are being starved and killed, and “we do not agree that our money, our investments, are being sent there to support that genocide.”
Aya Hafeda, a spokesperson for a Palestinian solidarity group at the University of Montreal known by its French acronym SDHPP, said thousands of students have signed demands that include divesting from Israel, taking a public stance against Israel similar to that which supports Ukraine and granting amnesty to students and staff who speak out in support of the Palestinians.
“Students have been speaking out for over two years,” he said while accusing school administrations of being more focused on profits than representing the student body. “We are here to mobilize all of our students to make a clear message to our administrations that two years of genocide, even one day of genocide, have crossed the red line.”
Concordia ‘not a safe place to learn right now,’ rabbi says
Rabbi Josh Berkowitz, known as “Rabbi Josh,” serves as clergy for the Chabad student group at Concordia University. He said many students feel the school was caught off guard by the disruptions, adding that they are causing problems for students of all backgrounds, regardless of their involvement in the conflict, who have been preparing for weeks for midterm exams.
“And people are really upset,” Berkowitz said in an interview with CBC News Monday night.
He said students want to sit their exams, but people are breaking in with covered faces and megaphones.
He said Concordia is no longer a comfortable or safe place for students who have any type of Jewish identification on them.
“It’s not a safe place to learn right now if they’re not willing to enforce the rules,” the university’s Berkowitz said.
He also said that from his perspective, at least some of the gatherings that have taken place on the Oct. 7 anniversary over the past two years have been celebratory in nature.
“People are disturbed by it,” he said.
