New pro-Palestinian encampment set up at Victoria Square in downtown Montreal

After surviving a first rainy night, protestors at a new pro-Palestinian encampment at Victoria Square in Montreal's downtown are calling on Quebec's pension fund manager to divest from certain companies with ties to Israel.

Protestors began barricading themselves using construction materials around 1:20 p.m. Saturday, according toService de police de la Ville de Montral(SPVM) spokesperson Vronique Dubuc.

In a news release, protestors from the Divest for Palestine Collective say they're asking the Caisse de Dpt et Placement du Qubec (CDPQ) to divest from 87 companieswith ties to Israel in the wake of the latter's war against Hamas and occupation of Palestinian territories.

"Divestment is not only for the universities, it should be every institution," said Benot Allard, a spokesperson for the collective.

The CDPQ manages the funds of 48 depositors representing over six million people in Quebec.

The data cited by the collective is based on research by human rights organization Just Peace Advocates. It looked at theCDPQ'sinvestment portfolio as per its 2023 annual report and analyzed it against databases compiled by international organizations, including the United Nations, of companies connected to various activitiesin occupied Palestinian territories.

Additionally, the collective isasking the CDPQ to put in place a transparent process that would prevent future investments "associated with human rights and international law violations," it says in the news release.

"Those demands aren't new. They have been handed by people in civil society in Quebec, there have been open letters to the CDPQ asking for divestment, there have been questions from [MNAs]in the Assemble Nationale du Qubec," he said. "We have [as] yet received only partial answers."

The collective is also asking the Minister of international relations and the Francophonie,Martine Biron, to shut down Quebec's office in Israel.

CBC News has reached out to the CDPQ for comment and is waiting to hear back.

Montreal Police say they're monitoring the situation and have a line of communication with the protestors.

The encampment builds off the student-led movement which has seen tents spring up across North American campuses, including McGill University in Montreal. There, an encampment has been in place for nearly two months, despite two injunction requests.

On Tuesday, the university said it was done negotiating with the students and is looking to take disciplinary action.

Another encampment at the Universit du Qubec Montral was dismantled in late May after that university agreed to most of the student's demandsincluding creating a $100,000 fund forPalestinian academics andstudents, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and asking theUQAMFoundation to ensure it has no direct investment in weapons companies.