Student protesters at McGill encampment determined to stay after judge rejects injunction

Students participating in the pro-Palestinian encampment on McGill University's downtown campus drew sighs of relief Wednesday around noon, when news arrived that a Quebec Superior Court judge had rejected an injunction request that would have forced them to leave.

The group has been on campus since Saturday, beginning with about 20 tents scattered on the front lawn near the Roddick Gates on Sherbrooke Street and growing to an area of about 4,000 square metres by Wednesday evening. They say they are determined to stay put until the university divests from companies with business interests in Israel.

"It's excellent news. I think it shows we're on the right side of history and that fights for equality and justice end up prevailing," said Rima Khreizat, a recent graduate of Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), who has been joining the group during the day. 

Khreizat said it was important for her to participate because she is from southern Lebanon, where family members of hers had lost their homes and been displaced by Israeli bombardments in recent weeks.

For much of the day, students and their supporters stood in a circle in front of the camp, chanting slogans such as, "free, free Palestine," and "disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest."

Yara Fadel was among them. The former Université de Montréal student said she wanted to show her support after seeing images of New York City riot police conduct a violent crackdown on the Columbia University encampment.

"I was so mad and I was so scared for them," she said, referring to the McGill students, worrying Montreal police could do something similar if the injunction request was approved.

Overnight at the camp, many had also watched videos and reports on social media of police storming the Columbia building where students were occupying in protests against Israel's actions in Gaza. 

Ari Nahman, who is studying religions and cultures at Concordia University and has been staying at the encampment, said scenes of police storming Columbia "got a couple of us crying yesterday. We stand in solidarity with them. We continue in their footsteps."

The pending injunction request had heightened apprehension that a similar crackdown could occur in Montreal, but police in the city have so far stayed away from the camp. On Tuesday, a Montreal police spokesperson said "no crime is being committed" at the encampment and called the situation a civil matter.

The police service wrote on X Wednesday that it would be "prioritizing a peaceful conclusion."

Nahman, a member of Independent Jewish Voices, said the group is mostly made up of students from McGill and Concordia but that members of other universities, such as UQAM and Université de Montréal, had joined.

They said the encampment had created an organizational structure to keep people safe, including a code of conduct, and held a general assembly meeting every morning.

"We discuss points about what's happening in Gaza, how the Palestinians feel, especially in the camp. And with the whole antisemitism claim, we had a moment for: How are the Jews feeling in the camp? We're valuing the voices that are concerned," they said.