Columnist Richard Martino has little hope that the camp set up by McGill University students will be dismantled without incident while a request for an injunction over it will be discussed Tuesday afternoon.
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During his column on “Le Québec Matin,” Mr. Martineau did not question the right to demonstrate, but wondered why the unit did not do so in front of the Israeli embassy.
He said: “Of course we have the right to criticize the Israeli regime when we see what is happening in Gaza, where 50% of the buildings have been destroyed, famine, children dying and all that.” But here we say that it is not really “dirty”. “There are those who make anti-Semitic statements and question Israel’s right to exist as a state.”
He adds: “I want to remind these people that Canada was the first G7 country to come forward to help the people of Gaza.” It is also one of the countries that sends the most money for humanitarian aid.
It will not only be students who will demonstrate in front of the university institution.
“These people are not all young students,” he says. There are people who are officially students, but unofficially they are part of very organized groups who come from other places. “They are funded, and we don’t really know how.”
For this reason, he fears that the situation will deteriorate.
“They say they won't leave,” he says. What does it mean? Will the police arrive and force them to leave? “This is what they want: direct confrontation with the police and beatings with batons to show that the capitalist system is terrible.”
“I am very pessimistic,” he adds. Looking at the pictures shown in the US, they were very ugly, thank you. It could happen here too, it would be a shame. This is really a dangerous situation. “The spring is likely to be hot.”
Watch Richard Martino's full column in the video above
