`LAW-ENFORCEMENT VACUUM' AT PROTESTS, CRITICS ALLEGE
ACCUSATIONS THAT POLICE ARE ABANDONING CONTROL RISE AMID WAVE OF PROTESTS
After several consecutive incidents of anti-Israel mobs besieging Jewish sites and public events with minimal opposition, police in Toronto and Montreal are facing accusations that they've abandoned the streets to lawlessness.
Saturday, a public talk in Toronto featuring Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and visiting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was cancelled due to the venue's entrances being blockaded by anti-Israel demonstrators. Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen was even the target of projectiles as he approached the building under a police escort.
On Monday, Montreal's Federation CJA building — a building hosting the Montreal Holocaust Museum — was besieged by anti-Israel demonstrators attempting to force the cancellation of a talk featuring visiting IDF soldiers.
Video circulated by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs — one of the event's organizers — showed demonstrators screaming “death to Israel, death to the Jews” in Arabic, as well as chants of “Allahu akbar” (Arabic for “God is great”).
And just last night, attendees at a Liberal Party fundraiser in Downtown Toronto faced shoves and jeers by masked anti-Israel crowds barring the entrance.
A video taken by protest-watcher Caryma Sa'd shows an attendee asking police to clear a path through the crowd. “Can everyone just move to the side?” asks a Toronto Police officer.
The crowd ignores him and enters into a chant of “shut it down.”
“It's time our laws are enforced — not just when it's convenient for the government,” reads a Sunday post by Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman, issued as a synagogue in her riding was subjected to a similar effort to shut down an event inside.
In the wake of the Federation CJA blockade, Montreal Jewish groups said they had given ample warning to Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) that the venue would be a target, and yet demonstrators faced no pushback as they crowded entrances and even parked a pickup truck equipped with loudspeakers outside.
“The SPVM failed to act and only secured safe passage for those inside of the building around 10 p.m.,” reads a Tuesday statement by Yair Szlak, CEO of Federation CJA.
He added, “for months, we have received assurance from the SPVM that our community and property would be protected. However, last night's event reveals a failure on their part.”
Elisabeth Press, the provincial representative for the area, said on Monday, “Our community needs to be better protected.”
Montreal lawyer Neil Oberman has been leading an effort to force a police counteraction against anti-Israel protests and blockades. In January, he served Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante with a demand letter accusing her of allowing the city to become “a territory for extreme groups who assemble with the view of spreading hate and interfering with the daily lives of Montrealers under the guise of freedom for terrorism.”
And just this week, he obtained an injunction in Quebec Superior Court ordering an end to blockades of Jewish institutions.
Joseph Mancinelli, a senior manager with Laborers' International Union of North America, was among the Italian-Canadian VIPs invited to the cancelled Meloni event. “I am beyond disgusted at the lack of response in Toronto yesterday evening,” he wrote in a Sunday social media post. “Why are our laws being ignored?”
It was a sentiment shared by Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association president Flavio Volpe, another Italian-Canadian invited to the gala. On social media Volpe said it took 90 minutes just to get inside the venue, even with a police escort, “and someone in our party still got assaulted.”
“Toronto has a law enforcement vacuum,” Volpe said in a follow-up post. “This is getting worse every day. This is not protest.”
In a lengthy French-language statement to National Post, the SPVM said that on Monday they responded to an “impromptu” protest outside the Federation CJA building.
“Police were swiftly dispatched to the scene to ensure everyone's safety,” they wrote, noting that officers arrested two men at the demonstration.
The statement added that the Montreal police continue to follow “with great interest the events taking place in the Middle East” and are alert to “when international issues are likely to have implications for our area of jurisdiction.”
“That being said, for security reasons we never reveal our response strategies nor the number of officers we deploy, either before or after an event,” it read.
In a statement to National Post, Toronto Police Service (TPS) spokeswoman Stephanie Sayer said officers are needing to respond to an “unprecedented number of demonstrations.” Since Oct. 7, police have been present at 500 demonstrations, incurring a total policing cost of $10.3 million.
On Tuesday, she noted, the service's Public Order Unit had already attended four events before being redirected to the Liberal Party fundraiser. “On Saturday, they attended twelve events before attending the (Trudeau/Meloni event),” she said.
“Depending on who you speak to, either we are unfairly targeting protesters or we are being too lenient. Neither is true,” wrote Meyer.
Following the cancelled Trudeau/Meloni event, the police issued a statement that they were reviewing tape from the event to see if anything illegal occurred — and that they were prepared to provide escorts to get Trudeau and the Italian prime minister through the crowds had they been called upon.
“It was not at TPS's recommendation that the event be cancelled, and many guests were already inside,” Sayer told The Canadian Press.