85,000 students strike in Quebec, call for Israel disinvestment and final solution

Pro-Palestinian protesters yelled to pro-Israel demonstrators, ‘The final solution is coming your way, the final solution. You know what the final solution is?’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

As many as 85,000 students in Quebec on 13 university campuses went on strike on Thursday and Friday to demand divestment from Israel as they called for an intifada and a final solution.

The Coalition de résistance pour l’unité étudiante syndicale (CRUES), which organized the mass protests, said they were intended to coincide with a NATO conference in Montreal and accused NATO of giving a nod of approval to the “ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

The largest protests are taking place at Concordia University with others at McGill and Dawson.

Canadian news reported that Dawson canceled all classes because of “concerns about the safety of students and employees on the day of the boycott. ”

The organization says its objective is “the liberation and the end of genocide in Palestine and the Middle East,” according to a statement on the CRUES website.

The leader of the protest in Concordia chanted, “Listen to the ICC,” referring to the announcement on Thursday that the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

A student told Canadian News that the protest at Concordia filled 12 floors of the university’s main building with “Free Gaza” painted on the lockers.

Protesters knocked over garbage cans, tried to break down doors, and chanted, “Long Live the Intifada!”

On Thursday afternoon, students were told not to leave their location unless evacuation was required because of safety issues.

Palestinian Youth Movement’s Montreal bracket wrote on Instagram “Glory to our people resisting the zionist colonial project and genocide. We will not stop until Palestine is fully liberated, from the Jordan river, to the Mediterranean Sea.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters yelled to pro-Israel demonstrators, “The final solution is coming your way, the final solution. You know what the final solution is?”

During a press conference on Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if he set foot on Canadian soil, in accordance with an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.

“First of all, as Canada has always said, it’s really important that everyone abide by international law,” Trudeau said. “This is something we’ve been calling on from the beginning of the conflict. We are one of the founding members of the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice.”

anti-Israel protestscampus antisemitismQuebec