Pro-Palestinian protesters barricaded themselves inside the James Administration building on McGill University’s downtown campus on Thursday.
In a short statement issued late Thursday afternoon, the university confirmed protesters were occupying the university’s main administration building but didn’t elaborate on who they were.
Officials also confirmed the presence of a barricade outside the building.
“Police and security services are on site,” the statement reads.
At 5 p.m., a spokesperson for Montreal police said it was on site to evaluate the situation.
“It’s just a first step, it’s the observation,” said Montreal police spokesperson Sabrina Gauthier. “We do not intervene for now.”
By 7 p.m., Gauthier said a specialized unit had entered the building to secure the premises and that all civilians inside the building had been safely escorted outside.
She said efforts were being made to establish a dialogue with the protesters. Gauthier then added that arrests would follow.
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Videos circulating on social media, however, showed police in riot gear in a standoff with protesters.
Earlier in the day, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill (SPHR McGill), a group that has been part of a tent encampment on campus asking that McGill divest from Israel, put out a call on social media to support those who were barricaded inside.
“Students have taken McGill Admin Building, demanding McGill cut ties with genocide,” Sphr McGill wrote on X. “Show up to support the students and escalate for Rafah.”
In a second post, SPHR McGill referred to the protesters as “an autonomous group of students.”
The encampment began April 27 amid a wave of similar demonstrations across universities in the United States over the Israel-Hamas conflict. Since then, dozens of tents have been pitched on McGill’s lower field.
In May, McGill failed to convince a Superior Court judge that the situation at the encampment was sufficiently urgent to justify a provisional injunction.
A previous injunction request by two McGill students was also rejected.
— With files from Global News’ Kalina Laframboise and The Canadian Press
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