3 charged after protests outside Toronto-area synagogue marketing occupied West Bank land

Three people have been charged following hourslong protests Thursday out‐ side a Thornhill, Ont., syna‐ gogue, police say.

The arrests are tied to three different incidents at the demonstration in the Clark Avenue W. and Bathurst Street area, York Re‐ gional Police said in a news release Friday.

Demonstrators said they gathered to protest a real es‐ tate event that marketed oc‐ cupied land in the West Bank, and counter-protesters showed up in response to a call-out from leaders of the synagogue. Police would not confirm whether the accused were with the pro-Palestinian demonstrators or with the counter-protesters.

In the first incident, police say a man was found in the crowd carrying a knife. The 40-year-old Markham man has been charged with pos‐ session of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

In the second, a 32-yearold man from Vaughan al‐ legedly assaulted a female victim. He has since been charged with assault.

And in a third incident, a woman allegedly threatened to spray a man with coyote repellent, similar to pepper spray, amid an altercation. The 48-year-old from Vaugh‐ an has been charged with possession of a weapon dan‐ gerous to the public and as‐ sault with a weapon.

Woman allegedly kicked at protest speaks out

One woman who said she was kicked in the stomach during during Thursday's protest spoke out about her experience to CBC Toronto.

The 24-year-old woman said her role in the protest was as a marshal to keep her group safe if things esca‐ lated. CBC Toronto is not identifying the woman be‐ cause she fears for her per‐ sonal safety.

The woman was with EL‐ DV4Palestine - a pro-Palestin‐ ian group that represents lo‐ cals in the Eglinton-Lawrence and Don Valley neighbour‐ hoods. When she saw a crowd forming, she said she rushed to put herself in the middle.

"When I was doing this, there was like a flag that was being used to hit people, or something to push people. So I grabbed it so I [could] push it away," she said.

"It happened really fast ... I just got kicked in the stom‐ ach by a guy."

The victim said police haven't confirmed with her if the charges stem from her assault, however she does plan to file a police report as she deals with the pain of her injuries.

Still, she said she'll contin‐ ue to participate in future protests, and doesn't want to see anyone who committed violence to "get away with it."

"I'm going to keep show‐ ing up and I'm going to stay on the front line."

Police say their hate crimes prevention unit has been engaged in the cases where charges have been laid.

"York Regional Police takes these matters seriously and is reminding the commu‐ nity we will not tolerate any form of hate crime," police said in the news release.

Police are asking any wit‐ nesses or those with footage of the incidents to contact in‐ vestigators or submit a tip anonymously to Crime Stop‐ pers.

Friday's charges come af‐ ter a separate real estate event over the weekend where a man allegedly fired a nail gun at a pro-Palestinian demonstrator and yelled ob‐ scenities at others. Police have said hate was a "moti‐ vating factor" in that inci‐ dent.