Protesters are forced back on an escalator at Concordia University as they try to stop a speech by Netanyahu in Montreal

MONTREAL, September 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to cancel a talk slated for Monday, September 9, at Concordia University here because of a pro-Palestinian demonstration, police and school officials said.

About 200 to 300 pro-Palestinian demonstrators, who accused Netanyahu of being a war criminal, opposed to Netanyahu’s visit clashed with police who used pepper spray on the crowd. Windows were broken during the encounter. The right-wing former premier was the invited guest of the university, Agence France-Press (AFP) reported.

The university decided it could not guarantee Netanyahu’s safety if the event went ahead.

Police beat back the activists with pepper spray and batons, arresting five people after several windows were smashed, Canadian Press reported.

In Montreal , some of the several hundred people who gathered at the campus to protest Netanyahu’s visit accused him of being a war criminal and said he has no right to a pulpit from which to voice his anti-Palestinian views.

“There’s no free speech for hate speech,” said protester David Battistuzzi, 24, a Palestinian activist and former Concordia student.

“This man said in 1989 Israel ‘should have taken advantage of the Tiananmen Square massacre to expel the Palestinians from Israel .’

“He’s a violent man . . . this man is a war criminal.”

Netanyahu, who had earlier vowed not to let the demonstrators disrupt his speech, said he would likely discuss the incident on Tuesday during a scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

“(It’s) mad zealotry run amok,” a visibly tense Netanyahu told reporters at a hastily called news conference following the protest.

“They’re supporting Saddam Hussein, they’re supporting (Yasser) Arafat, they’re supporting (Osama) bin Laden.”

Demonstrators inside the building tossed chairs and newspaper boxes at police before activists were driven out of the building.

A Concordia University student is led away by police after being arrested during the protest

The facility was evacuated before Netanyahu was scheduled to arrive and the speech cancelled a few minutes later. A number of people were seen hunched over on a nearby sidewalk, coughing and gagging on the pepper spray, Canadian Press said.

Rector Frederick Lowy said the university was studying tapes of the event with police and would take action, including expulsion, for students found to have been involved in the violence.

Until a university policy is developed, he instituted an immediate moratorium on public events dealing with the Middle East .

“Rational discourse is the very stuff of the university - even heated argument - provided there's no incitement or violence,” Lowy said in an interview. “For us this was a shameful event today.”

A crowd of about 250 activists staged a more peaceful protest Monday night outside Netanyahu’s speaking engagement in Winnipeg . They chanted slogans and hurled insults but the speech went ahead as scheduled.

His speech was peppered with angry condemnations of the Montreal demonstration. Both he and the host of the Winnipeg lecture, CanWest Global founder Izzy Asper, likened the protesters in Montreal to Nazi thugs intent on destroying human rights.

“I feel for Canada a sense of real shame, a real sadness, mixed with real anger and outrage,” said a clearly angry Asper, who added the incident represented a stain on Canada ’s reputation.

Netanyahu said officials could have done a better job to ensure his speech was not disrupted. He suggested the most violent protesters could have been arrested prior to the event.

But university spokesman Dennis Murphy said campus police were simply overwhelmed after protesters smashed through a security wall, adding that other demonstrators had been in the building for hours, Canadian Press reported.

He said the school cancelled the speech after consulting with the RCMP, city police and Netanyahu’s aides.

Tensions at Concordia remained high throughout the afternoon as shouting matches broke out between Jewish and Arab students.

Before the skirmishes on Monday, Netanyahu told a news conference the world would be making a mistake if it failed to support the U.S.-led effort to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Canadian Press reported.

“I think the entire world, and certainly the entire democratic world, should be worried about a regime that knows no bounds on the use of force,” said Netanyahu without referring to his own country possessions to nuclear weapons, including 200 atomic bombs.

Netanyahu, who was Israel ’s Likud Party prime minister from 1996 to 1999, is scheduled to speak Tuesday, September 10, in Toronto , where more protests have been planned.

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