Montreal cycling Grand Prix draws protests against Israel-Premier Tech team

Nearly 200 protesters gathered along the route of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal on Sunday to oppose the participation of the Israel-Premier Tech cycling team in the race.

The demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and chanted "Boycott the Grand Prix, boycott IPT" and "solidarity with Palestine" to the beat of drums.

Protesters gathered at the foot of Mount Royal along Avenue du Parc, where barriers lined the course. A large yellow sign planted in the grass read: "Israel-Premier Tech ambassador of genocide."

A heavy police presence included officers on foot, on bicycles and even on horseback.

In a social media post, the groups Cyclists for Palestine, Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU) and Divest for Palestine — who organized the demonstration — called on citizens to mobilize and urged event organizers and sponsors to "exclude the team complicit in genocide from the Grands Prix in Quebec."

The organizations accused Israel-Premier Tech of being "complicit with the genocidal entity" and engaging in "sportswashing," a term used when an organization uses sports to improve its reputation and cover up its wrongdoings.

"Israel-Premier Tech is not just a sports team: it's a propaganda machine," said Safa Chebbi, spokesperson for Divest for Palestine, in a statement released Sunday morning. "Allowing it to participate means accepting that Montreal continues to be complicit in the genocide in Gaza.

"We refuse to let our streets and our events, partly funded by public money from Canada and the City of Montreal, be used to whitewash the crimes of a colonial and genocidal entity."

The three organizations stressed that Sunday's demonstration was a "last resort" to demand Israel-Premier Tech's exclusion, noting they had already launched a petition, published an open letter and appealed to municipal authorities in the cities hosting the Grand Prix.

A large group of protesters gathered outside the event's official hotel in downtown Montreal on Saturday night.

On Friday, a handful of pro-Palestinian demonstrators also protested at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec race in Quebec City.

Protests against Israel-Premier Tech have also taken place in recent weeks at the Spanish Vuelta, which led the team to remove any reference to Israel from its jerseys.

Israel-Premier Tech is co-owned by Canadian-Israeli businessman Sylvan Adams. He has previously described the riders as ambassadors for Israel, but the team has since referred to itself as simply a "professional cycling team" in response to protests.

Earlier in September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his support for Adams, praising his refusal to withdraw the team from sporting events despite protests.

Israel-Premier Tech's team at the Vuelta includes Canadian rider Pier-Andre Cote. Other Canadian riders on the IPT roster include Michael Woods, Hugo Houle, Guillaume Boivin, Riley Pickrell and Derek Gee, who is currently in a contract dispute with the team. Former Canadian star Steve Bauer is the team's sporting manager.

The team's title sponsor, Premier Tech, is based in Riviere-du-Loup, Que.