Two men were arrested and charged with assault after a pro-Palestinian protest took place outside Montreal’s Federation CJA building during an event hosted by a Concordia University group on March 4.

The event put on by StartUp Nation and Hillel featured Israelis Nir Yosef, Ori Itzhaki and Aby Volcovich who are on a Canada-wide tour speaking about the delegitimization of Israel on university campuses. The event was supposed to take place on Concordia’s campus but was canceled by the university on the basis that it would create “a climate of intimidation.”

News of the event circulated and prompted immediate backlash from both students and pro-Palestine groups online—many calling it disgraceful to invite Israel Defence Force reservists to the university.

Pro-Palestine group Montreal4Palestine posted about the event and mobilized on site to stop it from happening, telling followers to disrupt and make as much noise as possible.

Startup Nation president Anastasia Zorchinsky told The CJN that attendees were met by a large group of protesters who refused to let anyone enter the building. About 30 people were able to attend the event but many others were not able to get in. 

 Those who were able to attend were then stuck inside for hours as they waited to be safely escorted out the back of the building as protesters blocked both entrances.

“We weren’t aware of what was really going on since we were putting on the event but we knew the protest was happening because people weren’t allowed in or out,” Zorchinsky said.

“We were there from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.,” she said. “We were sitting in a dark room for 45 minutes. It felt like being in a bomb shelter.”

Moreover, police did not wait to ensure attendees’ safety as they left the building and protesters yelled at them as they tried to get to their cars, she said.

Videos show hundreds of protesters marching around the building and into the surrounding residential Jewish neighborhood. One man is seen asking police to remove protesters from his front lawn but was ignored. Another video showed someone doing a Nazi salute at the protest.

Startup Nation released a statement calling out the university for canceling the event and highlighted the fact that the school allowed an anti-Israel film to air on campus in January since the screening was by invitation only and represented academic free speech.

“We tried our best to host the event but the university was against it completely. They gave into the pressure that these students put them in and that’s what caused everything last night and what put us in danger. We had so many comments on our posts threatening us as well,” said Zorchinsky.

“Concordia has once again failed to respect its own policies, canceling our event and thus preventing us from exercising our legitimate and Charter-protected rights to freedom of speech and expression because some individuals and student groups who are opposed to the existence of the State of Israel lobbied them. This decision has emboldened our opponents, making campus even more toxic for Jewish students.”

Zorchinsky said that Concordia similarly tried to cancel a table the group wanted to set up to raise awareness about the hostages in January. An event in November provoked protests that led to one person being arrested during the altercation.

 The university is also facing an a $15-million class action lawsuit for failing to protect the security of Jewish students on campus.

The incident prompted Federation CJA and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs to call out political leaders and the Montreal police (SPVM) for their lack of action to dismantle hateful protests and leave protesters ‘unchallenged’ as they blocked entrances to a central Jewish community building.

“This is not about political views or a foreign conflict; it’s an intentional intimidation of Jewish Montrealers. The protests we’ve decried for weeks have escalated into a hate mob targeting Jewish institutions,” read a statement from Federation CJA and CIJA.

“We had informed the SPVM of event logistics ahead of time and had raised clear concerns about how far protesters would go to attempt to block access based on the last few months of hate protests escalating. We had urged police to have resources in place to ensure access to the building.”

Yair Szlak, CEO of Federation CJA, said in a press release that the events had left him “angry and frustrated.”

“In light of last night’s unacceptable situation, we are examining all available courses of action available to us to ensure that police act according to their mandate and that this situation does not recur. We must be vigilant and resilient with our own security personnel and volunteers and call upon the Montreal police and the Mayor of Montreal to do their job!”

Jewish organizations also raised the concern that protests outside the Spanish and Portugues Synagogue were planned for the next day, March 5, when an event promoting real estate in Israel is scheduled.

“As there is a Jewish elementary school next door, parents are obviously concerned about what our children are witness to and the situation must be kept under control,” Szlak wrote.