Protesters at McGill pro-Palestinian encampment are staying put despite warning for them to leave

Protesters at a pro-Pales‐ tinian encampment at McGill University say they aren't going anywhere.

Shortly before 4 p.m., Nicholas Thibert-Auclair, who works for McGill security, told the protesters they "have no right to be here" and would have to leave the area. Pro‐ testers were handed pam‐ phlets telling them to dis‐ perse immediately with all their belongings.

Thibert-Auclair returned to give a "final warning" and said the university would "consider other options" if protesters don't comply, in‐ cluding calling the police.

McGill confirmed this in‐ formation in a statement sent Monday afternoon.

University officials said earlier Monday that the num‐ ber of tents at the encamp‐ ment on McGill University's downtown Montreal campus had tripled since Saturday.

The protesters set up about 20 tents Saturday af‐ ternoon with the intent of staying on McGill University's lower field "indefinitely." They joined a wave of proPalestinian demonstrations held on campuses across the United States who want to see universities divest from companies with business ties to Israel.

In a statement published Monday, the university's media relations office said the situation with protesters on campus had "shifted sig‐ nificantly."

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"We have become aware that many of them, if not the majority, are not members of the McGill community," the statement reads.

University officials also said they saw video evidence of "some people using un‐ equivocally antisemitic lan‐ guage and intimidating be‐ haviour" on campus. CBC News requested a copy of the video, but the university has not responded.

WATCH | The latest from McGill campus as the protest enters its third day:

Sasha Robson, a member of Independent Jewish Voices McGill who was at the en‐ campment overnight Mon‐ day, told CBC News there were no reports of issues overnight.

Zeca Eufemia, a McGill student and teaching assis‐ tant who was among those protesting, said the encamp‐ ment had, indeed, tripled in size, as the university state‐ ment claimed.

"We have had people coming in from the commu‐ nity," he said. "These allega‐ tions of antisemitism, I have been here since Saturday, I have not seen any of that."

Eufemia said supporters from other universities had come to the McGill encamp‐ ment. He said he was protesting to ensure that money from the tuition he pays doesn't go to com‐ panies that could make weapons that will be used in Gaza.

"We are making our voices heard," he told CBC News.

The protesters have pub‐ lished a list of investments they object to, which includes approximately $20 million of investments that McGill says it holds in a variety of com‐ panies, including Lockheed Martin, an aerospace com‐ pany that manufactures weapons used by the Israeli military.

McGill publishes a list of its investments online, show‐ ing an endowment of more than $1 billion invested in various securities.

Sasha Boucher, a member of the Revolutionary Commu‐ nist Party who was not a McGill student but said he was at the encampment in solidarity with Palestinians, said the protesters felt sup‐ port from the general public.

"We have actually more food than we know what to do with. We're telling people to stop bringing us stuff - for now, we're going to need more stuff later," he said. "It's been going very well, there's a very strong sense of soli‐ darity here."

Throughout the weekend, McGill's media relations of‐ fice and Montreal police said the protest had been peace‐ ful.

Nanre Nafziger, an assis‐ tant professor in McGill's de‐ partment of integrated studies in education, said she came to the encampment to support the protesting stu‐ dents.

"We stand by them," she said. "They have the right to protest. They have the right to make demands of the uni‐ versity and we also want to stand by and let them know we are in support of them fully."

Israel launched its war against Hamas after the mili‐ tant group's attacks on Israel on Oct. 7. During the attacks, some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. More than 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza, including women and children.

Health authorities in Gaza say Israel's offensive in the enclave has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians - the ma‐ jority of them women and children - and has led to the imminent risk of famine, the destruction of key hospitals and, according to the United Nations, the displacement of 1.9 million people.

David Garfinkle, a Jewish man who lives near McGill's downtown campus, came by the protest on Monday.

"I don't like it," he said of the protest, saying that Israel was targeting Hamas, not Palestinian civilians.

But he acknowledged that the war's death toll was in‐ credibly high.

"If 30,000 of my neigh‐ bours and family were being killed I would probably do the same thing," he said, "But I would let [Israel] have what they want.… We want Hamas to go bye-bye."

Garfinkle said the protest‐ ers should be marching on the streets, not occupying McGill's campus, and should be calling for Hamas to give themselves up.

WATCH | Minister Marc Miller reacts to McGill en‐ campment:

Federal Immigration Min‐ ister Marc Miller, whose VilleMarie-Le Sud-Ouest-Île-desSoeurs riding includes McGill University, told journalists "the right to protest and the right to free speech is exces‐ sively important, especially in an academic setting" on Monday.

He said that right "doesn't permit violence," including hate speech, which will be watched "carefully."