Some downtown retail stores have boarded up their windows amid fears of rioting similar to what has been observed in a number of U.S. cities but Mayor John Tory is expressing confidence that Torontonians will continue to protest peacefully and says that any suggestion otherwise is likely just the musings of a small group of people who “spend a lot of their time in their basement typing out these kind of messages.”
On Monday evening crews were seen boarding up the Hudson’s Bay department store on Queen Street West as well as a Best Buy location near Dundas and Bay streets as riots continued to break out south of the border following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
It is not known if there is any credible threat in Toronto at this point but Tory did tell reporters at an unrelated press conference on Tuesday morning that police are “gathering intelligence with respect to the activities that people might or might not engage in” and will be “vigilant” in order to ensure that some of the scenes of looting and violence that have played out in U.S. cities following Floyd’s death don’t occur here.
“I reject the fact that there is any reasonable critical mass of people that are interested in any way, shape or form of having any kid of disturbance on June 6 or on any other date,” he said in response to a question about one particular rumour. “I you are one of those sorry trouble causers that I think by and large spend a lot of their time in their basement typing out these kinds of messages about this kind of activity just forget it.
Speaking with reporters, Tory said that the city has so far “done itself proud in the way in which it has handled some very heartfelt protests” and that the “Toronto way is to continue to do it that way.”
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