Montreal’s Pride parade, a joyous event on Sunday afternoon attended by tens of thousands of people, was halted temporarily when pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked the route partially or entirely.
The parade began at about 1 p.m. at the corner of Metcalfe St. and René-Lévesque Blvd. and headed east. But at René-Lévesque and Jeanne-Mance St., dozens of protesters blocked the route and disrupted the parade.
Parade organizers and police intervened and, “despite the heated atmosphere, the parade went ahead peacefully,” said Montreal police spokesperson Véronique Dubuc.
There were no injuries or arrests, she said.
Pride celebrations in several American and Canadian cities have been similarly disrupted or stopped by pro-Palestinian demonstrators protesting sponsorship of Pride organizations by companies that invest in Israel, which has been at war with Hamas since Oct. 7, 2023.
Toronto’s Pride parade in July was forced to end prematurely, a Vancouver Pride parade this month ended early when a pro-Palestinian protest group blocked the parade route and protesters forced the rerouting of Victoria’s Pride parade in July. As they did at Sunday’s event in Montreal, the protesters often carried banners stating: “There is no pride in genocide.”
The Faction Anti-Génocidaire et Solidaire, for instance, a group identifying itself as being made up of “queers of conscience,” denounced Fierté Montreal, the organizer of Montreal Pride events, for being “complicit in Palestinian genocide.”
The parade ended as planned on Atateken St. in the heart of the Village at about 4:50 p.m.