Valérie Plante on protests: “Intolerance, violence & anti-Semitism have no place in Montreal”

Mayor Valérie Plante has spoken out regarding a series of protests that took place over the weekend in response to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Plante referred to Montreal as a “city of peace” with a reputation for being a place where different communities can live together safely. The mayor also strongly condemned the violent acts and anti-Semitic signage that were present at various protests over the weekend.

“Montreal has the well-deserved reputation of being a city with different communities who live together in peace and security. Demonstrating is a right, but intolerance, violence and anti-Semitism have no place with us. Montreal is a city of peace.”

Rocks being launched against peaceful pro Israel demonstrators and #antisemitic slurs being yelled at them. This is NOT the Montreal and Canada that I know and love. People are free to peacefully disagree. This is just vile. https://t.co/RoyYDQ5ZXd
— Anthony Housefather (@AHousefather) May 16, 2021

Valérie Plante on protests: “Intolerance, violence & anti-Semitism have no place in Montreal”

There were also allegations of police brutality following the protest in downtown Montreal on Saturday, where thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated peacefully outside the Israeli consulate on Ste-Catherine in Westmount. A number of videos of violent altercations with Montreal police circulated on social media.

Fights and pepper spray at #FreePalestine protest in montreal today#IsraelTerrorist #Gaza #SaveSheikhJarrah #MontrealProtest #manifestation #manifencour
#Quebec #Canada #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/z4MffdknVQ
— ProtestMTL (@MtlProtest) May 15, 2021

Violent altercations between Montreal police and protesters

here's proof of the peaceful Palestinians holding flags to the israeli protesters only to get tear gassed by montreal police #MontrealProtest #Palestine #PoliceBrutality pic.twitter.com/uU9rC8791m
— ????- ⁷مي – ‎???? (@magicsioso) May 16, 2021

The latest eruption of violence in Gaza was sparked by a series of clashes between Israelis and Palestinians during the holy month of Ramadan, as well as the evictions of Palestinians from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood Sheikh Jarrah. Some violent clashes and nationalist displays occurred at and around the al-Aqsa mosque, which Jews refer to as the Temple Mount.

According to Al Jazeera, over the past week at least 192 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been killed by Israeli air raids (including 58 children and 34 women), while 10 Israelis have been killed (including two children). The United Nations warns that fighting between Palestine’s Hamas government and the Israel Defense Forces threatens to escalate to a full-out war.

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