Campers at the Al-Sumud People’s Encampment were woken early Friday morning by riot police. Starting at 5 a.m., they were told their presence in downtown Victoria Square was illegal and escorted out of the fenced-in camp protestors had set up two weeks before.
The Al-Sumud People’s Encampment has been calling for the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec to divest from 87 companies they say are complicit in the war on Gaza and illegal occupation of the West Bank. They’ve also called for the closure of Quebec’s new Tel Aviv office.
Mayor Valerie Plante and Alain Vaillancourt, member of the executive committee responsible for public safety, defended the clearing as peaceful and non-violent before members of the press. The SPVM made one arrest in connection with a prior incident.
