MONTREAL — (AP) — 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.
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, “a heavily fortified focal point for intimidation and violence, organized largely by individuals who are not part of our university community.”
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’s lower field.
“That was officially the last stand. There’s nobody in the encampment anymore,” said protester Félix Burt, 20, standing a block from McGill’s lower field, where a pile of tents and wooden pallets were what remained of the protest site.
A Montreal police …