Two separate protest groups, one Pro-Palestinian and the other an anti-NATO demonstration converged in Montreal on Friday evening, leading to clashes with police, fires, property damage and multiple arrests.
Demonstrators smashed windows and torched vehicles in response to the Israel-Hamas war and some 300 NATO delegates arriving in the city for a summit, resulting in three arrests on Friday.
The first group of protestors initially gathered at Émilie-Gamelin Parc in Montreal’s downtown around 4:30pm to protest the war in Gaza and another group of protestors joined them an hour later to demonstrate against a NATO summit, Manuel Couture, a spokesperson for the Montreal police told reporters.
The NATO summit included many member states and partner countries gathering to discuss Ukraine and climate change among other things, which ran from Friday to Monday.
Friday also marked the second day of pro-Palestinian student protests across Montreal, one of which led to a clash between pro-Israel counter-demonstrators at Concordia University.
The two groups started marching down St. Urbain St. shortly after 6 pm with tensions between demonstrators and police escalating after an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set on fire in the middle of the crowd.
As the march progressed, protesters began throwing small explosive devices and objects at police officers and smashing storefront windows along St. Urbain Street and René-Lévesque Blvd.
Two vehicles were also set on fire.
According to Couture, police responded by deploying chemical irritants and dispersing the crowd at which point three protesters were arrested for allegedly assaulting officers and obstructing police work.
The protest ended a little over an hour after it began.
The café chain Second Cup also decided to shut down one of its stores after a Montreal franchisee gave pro-Israel demonstrators a Nazi salute and chanted, “The final solution is coming” during Friday’s protest.
The exchange was caught on video, showing the woman in a keffiyeh and sunglasses with a medical mask, which initially obscured her identity.
However, once the video went viral, her identity was revealed, linking her to a Second Cup café located inside Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital.
The company announced it would be closing the store and terminating its franchise agreement on Saturday.
“Last night, our franchisee at the Jewish General Hospital was filmed making hateful remarks and gestures,” the company said in a public statement. “This franchisee’s actions are not only a breach of our franchise agreement, but they also violate the values of inclusion and community we stand for at Second Cup.”
