McGill University windows were smashed at five buildings by anti-Israel activists, disrupting classes and exams in what the administration said was an attempt to pressure the institution into adopting Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) policies.
Students, faculty, and staff were panicked by the “truly terrifying experience” after around 40 vandals used stones, bricks, and hammers on Wednesday to destroy windows, according to a Friday statement by McGill University President and Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini.
The vandals left before the police could arrive, but Saini expected that arrests would occur.
Saini said extensive damage was caused by the “shouting mob,” but there were no injuries. He stated that the university would fully enforce institutional policies and pursue legal accountability.
“These acts were intended to intimidate our campus community and bully us into changing the university’s decision regarding proposals from some to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction the State of Israel,” said Saini. “The university’s position rejecting BDS remains clear and firm.”
Condemning the vandalism
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said on X/Twitter Thursday that the vandalism was unacceptable and that the right of protest did not allow for the destruction of property.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Quebec vice president, Eta Yudin, said pro-Hamas and “anarchist” groups had crossed a line in an attempt to intimidate the Canadian city’s residents.
“Destroying university property in a futile attempt to intimidate administrators and students is an attack on our shared values,” said Yudin. “Those bent on tearing apart our society through violently imposing hateful and antisemitic ideologies have no place on campus or any of our public spaces.”
The McGill James Administration Building was vandalized on Sunday, according to photographs published on Instagram by Students for Palestine’s Honour and Resistance McGill, which showed that red paint had been splattered on the building entrance.
The SPHR and affiliates from local Montreal academic institutions protested against the McGill Board of Governors following a Thursday meeting in which they reviewed a report on divestment from defense firm companies.
The Committee on Sustainability and Social Responsibility report, mandated in July to carry out a review on the subject, recommended that the university not take any action regarding its investment.
The committee explained that arms are used by countries around the world for security and humanitarian efforts, and any divestment would be perceived as motivated by geopolitical considerations about world events on which the university had committed to neutrality.
The report also outlined that the 0.5% of the McGill Investment Pool related to the defense industry was not invested in any controversial weapon platforms such as land mines or cluster munitions.
The SPHR accused the board of being “proud enablers of the Zionist genocide and bloodshed” and committed to further efforts to push for the university to divest from companies related to Israel.
“Glory to our martyrs, to those who paid the ultimate price for our liberation, and to those who have paved the way for victory,” SPHR McGill said on Instagram. “Long live the student intifada, long live Palestine, and long live Gaza, the graveyard of the Zionist occupation.”