Last week, on Wednesday, January 5th, a group of forty masked individuals vandalized the McGill Downtown campus, smashing the windows of five different McGill University buildings. The buildings vandalized included the Leacock and the Arts building. In a statement sent out to McGill University faculty and students, Principal Deep Saini viewed this as an attempt to “bully” McGill University into “Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) the State of Israel,” further compounded by the “Pro Palestine” graffiti found on Roddick Gates.
The first 911 calls were made to the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SVPM) at 8:20 P.M while classes were ongoing By the time police arrived, the protestors had already fled campus according to SVPM spokesperson Caroline Chèvrefils.
An anonymous submission to Montreal Counter Information, an anarchist-affiliated media platform claimed responsibility as the group that attacked the buildings of McGill University armed with “hammers, rocks, and glass bottles” stating that “McGill is nothing but a symbol of the colonial and capitalist system.” They ended their submission with “death to capital and empire, down with colonialism and transphobia, fuck McKill!” Additionally, they claimed the damage to be in the ballpark of “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
In an interview with The Bull & Bear on February 10th, SVPM media relations officer Véronique Dubuc mentioned that “no arrests have been made” and added that the SVPM is “not willing to disclose the identity” of the group responsible for the vandalism.
The McGill downtown campus has been the subject of numerous pro-Palestinian demonstrations, including an encampment which lasted 50 days from April to June 2024.
Officials such as Montreal mayor Valerie Plante have since condemned these acts, describing them as “completely unacceptable” in a post on X adding that “[she] condemn[s] the vandalism that occurred.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a Jewish human rights organization described the events as “absolutely despicable” adding “once again, Montreal is the site of violence and lawlessness,” imploring the SVPM to take “swift action” and “hold those responsible accountable.”
However, as a spokesperson for SPHR (Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights) mentioned in 2024, “students and supporters have vowed to continue resisting oppression until McGill divests and Palestine is free.” Vandalism is seen by some as a challenge to McGill’s stance on BDS. SPHR did not respond to the Bull & Bear’s request for a comment on the recent attack.
The effects of the attacks that occurred last week on McGill’s campus are still an active investigation. Although much is unknown, one thing is for certain: the vandalism is another pressure inducing incident driving at the heart of student division and tension felt throughout campus.
