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MONTREAL (AP) \u2014 McGill University closed its downtown campus on Wednesday as Montreal police descended in large numbers to help clear a pro-Palestinian encampment that has been there for weeks.<\/p>\n
McGill president Deep Saini called the encampment at the Canadian university, one of many that had sprung up on campuses across North America since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, \u201ca heavily fortified focal point for intimidation and violence, organized largely by individuals who are not part of our university community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under pounding rain, pro-Palestinian protesters carried their belongings off campus, as bulldozers and security forces dismantled the encampment that had been on the school\u2019s lower field.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was officially the last stand. There\u2019s nobody in the encampment anymore,\u201d said protester F\u00e9lix Burt, 20, standing a block from McGill\u2019s lower field, where a pile of tents and wooden pallets were what remained of the protest site.<\/p>\n
A Montreal police spokesman said one person was arrested on Wednesday for assault on a security agent.<\/p>\n
In Quebec City, Higher Education Minister Pascale D\u00e9ry told reporters \u201cit was time\u201d to remove protesters from the encampment.<\/p>\n
D\u00e9ry said the atmosphere on campuses has become \u201ctoxic,\u201d and expressed hope that things would be calmer by the time fall classes begin.<\/p>\n
Zaina Karim, a McGill student who wasn\u2019t inside the camp when the dismantlement began, said protesters will persist until the university discloses and cuts its ties with Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not the end at all,” Karim said.<\/p>\n
Campus protesters have demanded the university end its investments connected to Israel\u2019s military and cuts ties with Israeli institutions over the offensive in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Over the last few months, students on campuses across North America have built encampments, occupied buildings and led protests to call on colleges and universities to divest their endowments<\/a> from companies doing business with Israel<\/a> or which support its war in Gaza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n