WATCH: Anti-Israel rioters occupy McGill

Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters have blocked and occupied buildings on the campus of McGill University in Montreal, as part of a premeditated “strike” in solidarity with Palestine.

The Hamas-supporting mob, backed by McGill’s Students for Palestine Honour and Resistance Union, on Wednesday blocked off all access to classrooms and swarmed the campus.

Video footage shows activists, most wearing masks or keffiyehs, the headcoverings of Hamas, unfurling Palestinian flags, putting up banners in front of classrooms, inside campus buildings, and spraying red paint on doors in a way that looks like splattered blood.

More videos show hordes of riot police arriving on campus, many on horseback, and forming a stand-off against protesters, which Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) called “picket lines” on Instagram.

The group claims that "over 16 auditorium classrooms were confronted with student-led pickets, effectively enforcing the strike mandate."

According to the school newspaper, McGill Daily, on March 27, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) convened a Special Strike General Assembly (SGA) to deliberate on the “Motion Regarding a Strike in Support of Palestinian Liberation.”

The meeting had “significant participation,” with a cap of 300 people in effect for fire code purposes, but it was also opened up to Zoom attendance. The motion passed, and a three-day strike was approved from April 2 to April 4 — which the publication said was the first approved SSMU strike motion in its history.

The goal of the “strike” was to pressure the institution to divest from companies with ties to Israel, the same demand pro-Palestine protesters made in June when they occupied the campus with encampments.

Multiple Jewish organizations have reported that activists are “intimidating” Jewish students, demanding McGill students not attend class and calling for them to join their own “lectures” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to SPHR.

Professors have been forced to cancel in-person classes and hold them online instead.

Police confirmed they arrived on scene at 12:30 p.m. after they were made aware that there would be protests that day.

“Police officers were there to make sure that those two groups did not merge together and commit any criminal acts,” Agent Manuel Coupre told the National Post.

“We do know that some protesters gathered inside the building, but most of our police operation was conducted outside,” said Coupre.

However, no arrests were made.

Advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada posted on social media Wednesday that the protest was already underway.

“Anti-Israel protesters are physically blocking access to lecture halls inside the Bronfman building and disrupting classes, preventing fellow students from accessing their right to education,” wrote B’nai Brith on X.

“Protest is a protected right — intimidation is not. No student should have to choose between their safety and their education. Disrupting classes, harassing students and faculty, and hijacking campus spaces is not activism, it is dangerous behavior that has no place on a Canadian campus.”

McGill told the Post on Thursday that “more classes had to be canceled, and some protesters engaged in acts of vandalism.”

“McGill University personnel are working to reduce disruptions and facilitate access to classrooms, in collaboration with the Montreal police,” said the school in a statement, adding that as of Friday, anyone entering campus buildings will be required to show student or employee identification.

Beginning Friday, access to university buildings will require a student or employee card, McGill said in the statement.