A discussion at Concordia University about the Mideast conflict transformed into a free speech rally Friday after a Montreal judge granted an injunction to the school prohibiting the event from taking place on campus.

Less than two hours after Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean Guibault upheld a moratorium and ordered the event moved or cancelled, about 300 people gathered in the cold outside the downtown campus.

They cheered enthusiastically as New Democrat MPs Svend Robinson and Libby Davies, human-rights activist Judy Rebick and several students took turns denouncing the moratorium, the judge's ruling and the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

"We're here to say we won't be silenced," said Robinson, NDP foreign affairs critic. "The administrators of this university have shown utter contempt for freedom of speech. I say shame, shame, shame."

Rebick, who is Jewish, said Jewish groups who accuse Robinson and other Palestinian supporters of anti-Semitism do not speak for all Jews.

"It's true we are a minority now," said Rebick, a journalism professor at Ryerson in Toronto. "But there are hundreds of thousands of Jews in Israel, and around the world, who believe the policies of (prime minister Ariel) Sharon are not just causing terrible suffering to the Palestinian people but are a catastrophe for the Jewish people in Israel."

Concordia imposed a three-month moratorium on public events related to the Middle East in September after competing Palestinian and Israeli groups staged violent protests, forcing the cancellation of a speech by former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The moratorium expires on Dec. 15, but could be extended.

While the Concordia Student Union, which organized the event called Peace and Justice in the Middle East, honoured the court ruling, it promised to go to the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary to fight the university's moratorium.

In his decision, Guilbault said freedom of expression cannot be exercised at any price. The injunction was granted for 10 days by Quebec Superior Court.

While event organizers accused the university of trying to restrict free speech, Concordia officials said their goal was to maintain calm on a campus fraught with tension and disagreement.

Concordia lawyer Christine Beaudoin told the court freedom of expression has its limits when there's a need to protect the safety of students and staff.

"The university has the power within the limits of the law to decide who and what goes on on its property and how," she told court.

Beaudoin said there's nothing to prevent the student union from holding the event off campus.

She said the university has always been sensitive and respectful of freedom of expression and all other rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Beaudoin said freedom of expression is "not an absolute right."

"One of the limits to this freedom of expression is when it's exercised in a context that brings violence."

Robinson, speaking on behalf on the Concordia Student Union, said the university isn't exempt from the Charter or Rights and Freedoms.

"Concordia University is a not a charter-free zone," Robinson said. "It can't hold up its bylaws and statutes and somehow say the Charter of Rights doesn't apply to them."

He dismissed the university's arguments the event would bring about violence.

"Who are the groups that are going to be storming the barricades," Robinson asked.

Giuseppe Sciortino, a lawyer for the student union, said Robinson is harmless.

"If the Concordia Student Union had invited Mr. Arafat or Saddam Hussein I would say there would be a problem with the event - but Svend Robinson," he said to laughs in the courtroom.

"I don't think Svend Robinson is much more violent than Mr. Chretien."

Robinson, who earlier this year accused the Israeli government of "state terrorism," was so upset when he learned of the moratorium that he personally approached the Concordia Student Union and offered to break it.

Invitations to Friday’s event were sent out after the moratorium was imposed.

On Wednesday, lawyers representing the university sent a letter to the student union, giving them until noon on Thursday to call off the discussion. When the deadline passes without response, the university went to court to seek an injunction.

Organizers of the debate said Thursday that if the university won the injunction, the event would be held at an off-campus location.

"I can assure you we will be speaking," Robinson said Thursday. "Where and when remains to be seen."

In an interview with CTV’s Canada AM on Friday morning, Davies called the moratorium "incredibly excessive."

"It raises serious questions about a publicly funded university trying to censor debate on a very important subject," she said.

Responding to Davies, Concordia’s executive director of communications, Dennis Murphy, said free speech was not the issue.

"This is not a question of free speech," he told Canada AM. "This is a question of the refusal of the university to tolerate verbal intimidation and physical violence. We will not stand for this, and this is why the cooling off period was instituted."

Friday is also the date of Concordia’s fall convocation, which is to take place at Place des arts, a few kilometres east of the downtown campus.

Aaron Mate, a vice-president with the student union, said Thursday the union had no intention of disrupting convocation and would abide by the court decision.

With a report from The Canadian Press