Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.
The Montreal Police Department (SPVM) was called late Monday night to intervene after protesters tried to destroy the statue of Queen Victoria in Victoria Square.
This comes days after protesters set up a pro-Palestinian tent in the area, for the first time in a public space in Montreal.
According to Montreal police spokesman Jean-Pierre Brabant, officers patrolled the area and arrested the people trying to destroy the statue, but there were no attempts to dismantle the encampment.
On Tuesday, Montreal police spokeswoman Sabrina Gauthier said police were guarding the encampment because of two counter-protests there. Several dozen demonstrators, some carrying Israeli flags, were separated from the pro-Palestinian group by two lines of police.
The organizers of the encampment are calling for a sale
The “Addiction for Palestine” collective was formed in Victoria Square to demand that the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) “immediately sell $14.2 billion of its investments in 87 companies that are partners in the Israeli occupation.”
The camp organizers met the media on Tuesday morning.
The group also calls for the closure of Quebec’s Tel Aviv office because “increasing trade relations and diplomatic cooperation with Israel legitimizes the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”
She also expressed her “unconditional solidarity” with the encampment at McGill University.
“This struggle does not stop with the current investments, but also with any future partnership with Israel.
To this end, we also demand that the CDPQ adopt a transparent monitoring process to ensure respect for human rights and international law,” the collective said.
The Ministry of International Relations and La Francophonie said they were “horrified” by the conflict and called for a “humanitarian ceasefire”, in addition to the “release of the abductees”.
“The presence of the Quebec office at the Canadian embassy in Tel Aviv should not be interpreted as taking a position in the conflict between Israel and Hamas,” the office said in an email to Novo Info regarding the request to close its office there. “As a gateway to the Middle East, the role of this office is to support companies that want to do business there.”
As for the CDPQ, she says she is concerned about the current conflict and confirms that she takes these issues “very seriously”.
“We are not making new investments in a war zone until further notice,” CDPQ told Novo Info in an email.
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
source link https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/protesters-try-to-topple-queen-victoria-statue-near-pro-palestinian-encampment-in-montreal-1.6939785
