MONTREAL, 12 April 2026 – Forty four (44) pro-Palestine protestors are appearing in municipal court this week to fight criminal mischief charges for having participated in a sit-in at a Scotiabank in the spring of 2024. This week marks the beginning of 15 hearing dates scheduled for April and May. The co-defendants and their lawyers are bringing a motion before the crown arguing that their Charter Rights were violated during their detainment and subsequent arrests, where they experienced kettling, unlawful detention, and harassment by the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM). The group’s lawyers suggest that these are all examples of political discrimination.
CONTEXT:
In the spring of 2024, the co-defendants held a sit-in at a Scotiabank branch in Montreal to demand the bank’s divestment from Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons manufacturer. Protestors were subjected to mass arrest and detention, including ill-treatment by the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), and were subsequently criminally charged. To date, this remains the largest mass arrest of pro-Palestinian activists in Canada since October 2023.
At the time of the sit-in, Scotiabank was the largest funder of Elbit Systems in Canada and among its top 5 shareholders globally. As Israel’s largest weapon’s company, Elbit Systems produces 80% of weapons and 85% of drones for the Israeli Occupation Forces. Elbit Systems advertises their weapons as “battle-tested” on Palestinians in Gaza, and play an important role in arming the ongoing genocide in Palestine, which has destroyed physical infrastructure and killed more than 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza, while forcibly displacing many others. For this reason, Scotiabank and Elbit Systems have become major Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targets and the subjects of an ongoing campaign involving rallies, sit-ins, mass account cancellations and direct actions across Canada. Due to escalating pressure, Scotiabank fully divested from Elbit Systems in February 2026.
“Most people don’t know that their bank is investing in weapons that are being dropped on civilians in Gaza. How many of them would be ok with it if they knew? Sit-ins like ours and the larger divestment campaign are necessary and have successfully pressured Scotiabank to divest from Elbit systems. When we lose our right to protest we lose our right to effect change,” says Harar, one of the co-defendants.
The co-defendants are calling for public support, noting that their mass arrest is emblematic of the broader phenomenon of criminalizing Palestine solidarity activism. They argue that their mass arrest points to a pattern of over-policing of Palestinian rights activism during an ongoing, well documented genocide and contributes to a climate of political repression.
“It should not be a crime to protest a genocide. This group is fighting for the rights of Palestinians to live in peace and the rights of Quebecers to express their political opinions,” said Barbara Bedont, the lawyer representing the co-defendants.
Maral, another co-defendant says, “It’s important that when our institutions fail to uphold international law and participate in war crimes without any intervention from the justice system, that we the public hold them accountable and leverage our collective power. This is especially true when we have no choice but to use the services of banks in order to function in daily life.”
