Students set up indefinite pro-Palestinian encampment at McGill University

Several tents have gone up on McGill's downtown campus in what students are calling an act of solidarity with the Palestinian cause, joining a wave of similar protests taking place across U.S. campuses.

On Saturday afternoon, organizers could be heard asking over loudspeakers that as many people as possible stay at the encampment overnight.

Protestors are demanding McGill and Concordia universities "divest from funds implicated in the Zionist state as well as [cut] ties with Zionist academic institutions," according to a statement sent to CBC News by Zaynab Ali, a McGill student participating in the protest.

The Montreal chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement called the encampment "indefinite," adding that it refuses to let universities "be complicit in genocide," in a social media post on Instagram.

On Saturday afternoon, organizers were heard asking that as many people as possible stay at the encampment overnight. (Jennifer Yoon/CBC)

Another student group, Solidarité pour les droits humains des Palestiniennes et Palestiniens also urged UQAM's students and personnel to join in as well, in a post to Facebook.

In an email to CBC News, McGill University says it's aware the encampment is happening and it supports the right of its students to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly within the bounds of the university's policies and law. It says its security officers are on site.