People take part in a protest in support of Palestine in Montreal, Friday, October 13, 2023. A Quebec Superior Court judge has granted a Montreal synagogue and a Jewish organization an injunction barring some Pro-Palestinian protesters from coming within 50 metres of their buildings. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
MONTREAL – A Quebec Superior Court judge has granted a Montreal synagogue and a Jewish organization an injunction barring some pro-Palestinian protesters from coming within 50 metres of their buildings.
On Tuesday, Justice Serge Gaudet ordered Montréal4Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement Montréal, Alliance4Palestine.Qc, Independent Jewish Voices and Bara Iyad Abuhamed to keep their distance from half a dozen Montreal buildings.
Eta Yudin, Quebec vice-president for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, says the community sought the injunction after protesters surrounded a Jewish community centre on Monday, blocking people inside and chanting antisemitic slogans.
Yudin says that while people have the right to express their opinion, the protest crossed the line and measures needed to be taken to protect the community.
Sarah Boivin, a member of Independent Jewish Voices, says the injunction represents a “demonization and criminalization” of the movement advocating for Palestinian human rights.
Boivin says the protesters were passionately – but not violently – speaking out against specific events, including one featuring members of the Israeli armed forces and another that she described as a “real estate tour selling properties in illegal settlements in the West Bank.”
As a member of an organization representing Jewish Montrealers, she said she was particularly upset that the events in question were hosted in a synagogue and in the building housing the Montreal Holocaust Museum.
“We are a group of Jewish Montrealers saying we are really not going to stand for this any more, to see our cultural and religious spaces being used in this kind of way for these kinds of events,” she said in an interview.
The injunction, which is in force for 10 days, prevents the protesters from approaching several locations, including a synagogue, CIJA’s offices, and a high school.
Yudin said that even before the injunction, Montreal police had been present and working to keep protesters at a distance.
“The injunction takes that a step further and requires those groups who are seeking to disrupt, to intimidate, to harass and to target the Jewish community to have a safe distance from our institutions, from our community centres, from our schools.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2024.
