More than a thousand people gathered in downtown Toronto on Monday afternoon in support of the Palestinian people after a weekend of violence in the Middle East, with an opposing rally set to take place in North York later Monday night.
The demonstration at Nathan Phillips Square was organized by the Palestinian Youth movement. By 3 p.m. there were hundreds of people flooding the square, spilling out onto Queen Street. By the time they started to march towards the Israeli embassy, the crowd had grown to an estimated 1,000 people.
“While the Toronto Police Service will be present to ensure lawful demonstrations, we want to be very, very clear that we will not tolerate intimidation, harassment or hate motivated behavior aimed at specific communities,” Pogue said. “Our city has experienced hundreds of lawful and peaceful demonstrations over the last year, and we are hopeful that will be the same today.”
Tensions in the local Jewish community have been high following the surprise attack by Hamas, which came on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot over the weekend. The attack saw militants storm into Israel, killing young people at a music festival and families in their homes and also hauling away girls and elderly people to Gaza as hostages.Locally, there's also been outrage online over celebrations held by some Palestinian groups over the weekend in the wake of the attacks.
“The Government of Canada has rightly listed Hamas as a terrorist organization and we simply must not tolerate any support of terror, full stop,” Chow said in her statement. “The rally to support Hamas at Nathan Phillips Square today is unsanctioned, without a permit and I unequivocally denounce it. Glorifying this weekend's indiscriminate violence, including murder and kidnapping of women and children, by Hamas against Israeli civilians is deplorable.
“We are there recognizing that people have a right to gather and to peacefully protest,” Pogue said. “We will be there to ensure that as people show that we are there to keep that peace and certainly will pursue any acts of hate crime if that if that occurs.”Man arrested following Sunday shooting in BramptonHigh stakes for homeowners facing choice between fixed- or variable-rate mortgage
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