An antiwar protester has handcuffs adjusted by an officer from the Parliamentary Protective Service outside of the Confederation Building near Parliament Hill during a sit-in styled protest calling for an arms embargo against Israel in Ottawa, on Dec. 3.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
Members of a Jewish group supportive of Palestinians in Gaza occupied a Parliament Hill building on Tuesday before being cleared out by parliamentary security and police.
Members of the Jews Say No to Genocide Coalition, along with supporters of the group, occupied the lobby of the Confederation Building. MPs and cabinet ministers are among those who have offices in the building.
The Parliamentary Protective Service, which provides security in the parliamentary precinct, intervened. The service said in a statement that 14 individuals were intercepted, released without charges and given trespass notices.
The Ottawa Police Service said in its own statement that it supported the PPS in dealing with demonstrators.
In a statement, the Jewish group said it is opposed to arms exports from Canada to Israel and arms imports from Israel.
It also raised concerns about Israel’s conduct in Gaza. Israel launched an attack on Gaza in 2023 after Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250, many of whom remain hostages in Gaza.
Marlee Wasser, a spokesperson for the activist group, said in an interview that the Confederation Building was chosen for the protest because it’s a building where many parliamentarians conduct their business and protesters wanted to bring business as usual on Parliament Hill to a halt.
She said there were about 100 participants in the protest
David Mivasair, a Hamilton rabbi who participated in the protest, said the trespass notice he was given bars him from being on Parliament Hill for a year.
“I feel like it’s violating my civil rights and my Charter rights as a Canadian citizen,” he said.
He said the group was on site for about an hour, and that some NDP MPs offered support.
Mr. Mivasair said the security service treated protesters with kindness and courtesy as they were removed from the site. “They were actually very careful with an old guy like me,” he said.