Montreal, June 7 (RHC)-- Montreal police have used tear gas to disperse anti-war protesters at McGill University after they barricaded themselves in the administration building as part of a "global call to action."
The Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill said that they entered the James Administration Building "demanding McGill cut ties with genocide."
Police in riot gear confronted the crowd outside of the building and fired tear gas in an effort to disperse the crowd. The crowd reformed shortly after and began using shelves and other items to build a barricade between themselves and police.
The group leading the occupation said that the university has "repressed every institutional channel through which they expressed the student will for a policy against genocide."
The protesters at McGill have called for the university to divest financial holdings in companies linked to Israel's war with Hamas. The SPHR specifically listed Lockheed Martin, Elbit Systems, and Thales as examples of companies they want McGill to divest from and boycott.
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill released a detailed statement on Telegram, criticizing the university for rejecting their demands to divest from companies linked to Israel. "Students have barricaded themselves inside to reclaim the university, which continues to fund and support the genocide of the Palestinian people," the statement read.
"As Zionist forces advance into Rafah, committing atrocities, McGill administrators shamelessly maintain their financial and academic connections."
Meanwhile, a police spokesperson said that officers remained in the James building speaking to protesters, who refused to leave, and that arrests may follow.
Protests by students intensified in several countries across the world, including Canada, France, Mexico, and Australia, amid a crackdown on U.S. students and a mounting death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israel has been pressing ahead with its bloody war on the Gaza Strip, which has so far killed at least 36,654 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
(Sources: Agencies)
