Walk-outs, sit-ins, pickets in Montreal in support of Palestinians in Gaza

Montreal police arrested several protesters and dragged them out of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Montreal riding office after a sit-in Thursday to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

At the same time, students from three universities in Montreal walked out of classes and into downtown streets and picketed a bank branch.

The actions were in connection with an international call to action by pro-Palestinian organizations demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel.

Despite a day of snow and freezing rain, students from Concordia, McGill and Université de Montréal skipped class and picketed the Scotiabank office on Sherbrooke Street, near McGill's campus, where they stayed until about 4 p.m.

Earlier, the students had gathered at their respective campuses, denouncing their schools' "complicity in this genocide" by having financial ties to companies that do business in Israel, before meeting up at the bank. 

Scotiabank is a prime target of the Canadian Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which encourages boycotts of corporations with ties to Israeli arms manufacturing.

The bank is a major shareholder in Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons producer that was under scrutiny as its weapons technology was used in the West Bank.

LISTEN | Activists on Scotiabank's stake in Elbit Systems:

Day 69:33Activist investors question Scotiabank’s outsized investment in a controversial Israeli weapons company

Scotiabank is the largest foreign shareholder in Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons producer that has come under scrutiny due to the use of its technology in the occupied West Bank. At a shareholders meeting last week, an ethical investment group presented a petition asking Scotiabank to divest from Elbit Systems. Murtaza Hussain, a reporter with The Intercept, tells Brent Bambury why Scotiabank's investment in Elbit seems unusual for a company in its position and what we know about why Scotiabank would take a $500 million position in a company some other funds are backing away from.

"Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel's crimes," protesters chanted.

Concordia students joined those at McGill, cancelling their own sit-in, after violence broke out on campus Wednesday, leading to an arrest.

Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch, one of the organizers of the picket line, said the movement was targeting big institutions to send a clear message — the violence in Gaza needs to end immediately.

"Our money makes a difference and that a lot of the money that they spend is going specifically into funding Israel and funding weapons that are killing innocent people," said Bechelany-Lynch.

Despite an increase in polarization between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian groups in Montreal, Bechelany-Lynch said there is evidence of "beautiful solidarity" between Jewish and Arab people, along with a shift in public opinion.

"I think more and more people are seeing what's happening, seeing that over 10,000 people have been killed, about 4,000 of them children," they said.

"People can't look at that and not believe that that is wrong."

But Federation CJA president Yair Szlak told reporters at a news conference that the event was a "pro-hate demonstration," that was "salt in the wounds" of Jewish Montrealers, particularly since it fell on the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, which marked an intensification in 1938 of German persecution of Jews. 

Demands for a ceasefire

The protesters demanded that Canada call for an immediate ceasefire, which they say is "the bare minimum" considering the "major humanitarian crisis we're witnessing."

Earlier today, the White House said Israel has agreed to suspend fighting for four hours daily to allow Palestinian civilians to flee northern Gaza.

Leo Ortega, a Jewish McGill student originally from New York, said that isn't enough.

"It means nothing because while they [the U.S.] call for a humanitarian pause, they're also calling for $14 billion of funding to Israel in emergency military funding," he said.

"I think it's important to remember that we're targeting the Israeli military industrial complex. This is not just targeting Israel because they're Israel …. Jewish Voices for Peace has consistently said 'not in my name.' And personally, I cannot agree more: not in my name."

Sarah Shamy, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement in Montreal, said protesters are not satisfied with a humanitarian pause and want a full ceasefire.

"What we're seeing is that the momentum for three or four weeks has not died down. The Canadian and Québécois people refuse to be complicit in this genocide," she said.

Meanwhile at Trudeau's office, protesters plastered the walls with posters saying "Free Palestine" and "ceasefire now."

WATCH | Protesters were eventually removed from the prime minister's office by Montreal police:

Sit-in at PM's Montreal riding office ends with protesters dragged out by police

1 year ago

Duration 4:11

A group demanding that Justin Trudeau call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war occupied the hallway outside his Papineau riding office for seven hours, live-streaming the event on social media, before being forcibly removed by police.

In a livestream posted to Instagram by one of the participants, police officers were seen limiting the number of participants inside the building, before asking them to leave or be fined and arrested at about 6 p.m.

Last week, UN human rights special rapporteurs issued a statement in Geneva saying the Palestinian people "are at grave risk of genocide" and have been calling for a ceasefire. The rapporteurs also said Israel's strike on a refugee camp inside Gaza was a "brazen violation" of international law.

Since Oct. 7, at least 10,812 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes, according to the Gaza-based Ministry of Health — an agency in the Hamas-controlled government.

About 240 hostages were taken prisoner inside Gaza and over 1,400 people were killed when Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7.