Mobilization in Quebec: A pro-Palestinian camp established on the grounds of Laval University

A pro-Palestinian encampment was set up on the grounds of Laval University (UL) in Quebec on Saturday by about 20 students, in line with the international campus encampment movement, as was the case in Montreal and Sherbrooke.

After just a few hours, the Quebec Police (SPVQ) dismantled it.

“They asked us to leave because Laval University asked them to dismantle the camp. So we were simply not given the right to demonstrate peacefully in support of Palestine,” Antoine Grenier explains.

“It is important because otherwise we cannot do anything and it is the only means of pressure. If there are camps, it is because people have been taking to the streets everywhere for months and countries such as the United States, Canada and Germany continue to support Israel,” David Fortier added.

Laval University, for its part, denies having called for the dismantling of the camp, specifying instead that the intervention was carried out by the SPVQ due to non-compliance with a municipal ordinance.

The tents and marquees were therefore dismantled and the students, who were still on site at the time of writing, had until 11 p.m. to leave the building. However, the latter would not have decided whether or not to stay.

Different requirements

The latter demand, among other things, greater financial transparency from Laval University regarding its investments and partnerships with entities linked to Israel.

“A permanent pause and a pledge of complete withdrawal from investments in companies complicit in the genocide” are also demanded.

Other demands include an immediate end to exchange programs with Tel Aviv, Tel Azekah and the Canadian-Israeli health research program, in addition to a position primarily in favor of a ceasefire.

The students also demand the removal of the position of Jean-Yves Duclos “violating the collective agreement of UL professors” and non-affiliation with the federal government “openly complicit in the genocide”.