MONTREAL — Pro-Palestinian protesters planned and executed a shutdown of a speech by Benjamin Netanyahu Monday, prompting the former Israeli prime minister to accuse the activists of supporting terrorism and "mad zealotry."

Officials at Concordia University cancelled the speech after about 200 protesters overran campus security officers and occupied the downtown F. Hall building where Netanyahu was scheduled to address several hundred students.

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.

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.

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.

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 what they call 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 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.

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

Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay defended the actions of riot police on Monday.

Flanked by top-ranking police officers at a City Hall news conference, the mayor said it was impossible to allow the speech to go ahead during a violent demonstration.

"The RCMP decided that the security of the former prime minister was in jeopardy,'' said Tremblay.

"Campus security even asked for police support on the inside because they did not have control of the situation.''

Tremblay also lambasted the demonstrators for preventing Netanyahu from speaking.

"In our society of Montreal, freedom of expression is fundamental,'' he said.

"Whether or not we agree with a point of view, we have the right to express ourselves.''

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

Police cleared the area in front of the Hall building by late afternoon.

Other students said they worried the skirmishes could have a negative effect on student relations for the rest of the year.

Rodrigo Marti, a 21-year-old first-year arts student, said he was surprised at the intensity of the emotions.

"Right before I started (school) I had heard to watch out for this sort of thing,'' said Marti, of London, Ont.

"I'm totally against the violence we saw here.''

The demonstration was not the first time Jewish and Palestinian supporters have clashed at Concordia. The school's student union courted controversy last year for its pro-Palestinian stance.<

Students have clashed at rallies and over a student handbook which a Jewish group labelled anti-Semitic and a blueprint for terrorist groups.

Outside Jewish groups angrily responded to the violent demonstration.

"Our respect for tolerance even in the midst of honest and open debate goes to the heart of what it means to be engaged in a pluralist, democratic society,'' said Joseph Wilder, national chairman of the Canada-Israel committee in a statement.

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.

Saddam has already proven he is prepared to wage war and he must be stopped before he acquires nuclear weapons, Netanyahu said.

"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.

"To wait until this tyrant develops nuclear weapons would be a big mistake.''

Netanyahu made the comments the same day U.S. President George W. Bush made his case for a military campaign against Iraq in a meeting with Chretien at the Detroit-Windsor border.

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