The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they happen.
Quebec premier calls for anti-Israel encampment at McGill to be dismantled
TORONTO — Quebec Premier Francois Legault says the encampment at Montreal’s McGill University should be dismantled as more students erected pro-Palestinian camps across some of Canada’s largest universities, demanding they divest from groups with ties to Israel.
While McGill had requested police intervention, law enforcement has not stepped in to clear the encampment and does not respond to Reuters’ questions about their plans. Students also set up encampments at Canadian schools including the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia and the University of Ottawa.
“We want the camp to be dismantled. We trust the police, let them do their job,” a spokesperson for Legault says.
There was also a pro-Israel counter-protest in Montreal Thursday. The two sides were kept separate.
On Thursday morning, students at the University of Toronto set up an encampment in a fenced-off grassy space at the school’s downtown campus where some 100 protesters gathered with dozens of tents.
According to a statement from organizers the encampment will stay until the university discloses its investments, divests from any that “sustain Israeli apartheid, occupation and illegal settlement of Palestine” and ends partnerships with some Israeli academic institutions.
A university spokesperson tells Reuters it’s “in dialogue with the protesters” and that, as of midday, the encampment was “not disruptive to normal university activities.”
Syria says 8 soldiers hurt in alleged Israeli strike that caused ‘material losses’
Eight Syrian soldiers were wounded and “material losses” were caused in an alleged Israeli airstrike on Damascus this evening, Syria’s state-run SANA broadcaster reports, citing a military source.
SANA says Israeli warplanes launched their missiles from over the Golan Heights at a site in the area of the capital.
Earlier, a security source told Reuters that the strike hit a building operated by Syrian security forces on the outskirts of Damascus.
Prestigious French university closes main Paris site due to anti-Israel occupation
PARIS — France’s prestigious Sciences Po university says it will close its main Paris site on Friday due to a fresh occupation of buildings by pro-Palestinian students protesting against Israel.
In a message sent to staff on Thursday evening, its management says the buildings in central Paris “will remain closed tomorrow, Friday May 3. We ask you to continue to work from home.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.