Anti-Israel demonstrators staged an unlicensed rally at a busy shopping mall/office complex in downtown Toronto on Friday, Boxing Day, with some chanting “We demand an intifada” into megaphones.
The incident at the Eaton Centre, which ended without any arrests and closely followed the Dec. 14 massacre of 15 people by two alleged Islamists at a Chanukah party in Australia, prompted calls for Canadian authorities to shut down calls for violence against Israelis and Jews.
The flash-mob protest began at 4 p.m., at the end of a holiday light show, and security and police “asked the individuals to leave the premises,” Toronto Police Service media relations officer Ashley Visser told Toronto Today. No injuries were reported and no arrests were made, the Toronto Police Service added. The protesters exited the mall “without incident by 4:15 p.m.,” she added.
The protesters unfurled a banner accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of war crimes. Some wore ski masks, including one person who was filmed repeatedly telling police: “I’ll put you six feet deep” as they were standing and observing the protests. Another shouted, “You’re a pig,” at the officers.
Many wore keffiyehs, waved PLO flags and chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The event was organized by the local branch of the Palestinian Youth Movement, according to Toronto Today.
Dean Allison, a Conservative Party member of the Canadian Parliament for Niagara West, condemned the police’s inaction at the Eaton Centre.
“On Dec 26, shoppers at the Toronto Eaton Centre were harassed by Hamas supporters—inside one of Canada’s busiest malls, during the holidays,” he wrote on X, noting that a series of similar events was held at other shopping malls in Canada over the weekend.
“This isn’t ‘peaceful protest.’ It’s intimidation. It’s harassment. And it has no place in Toronto—or anywhere in Canada,” Allison wrote, telling authorities: “Public spaces must be safe for everyone. Enforce the law. Shut this down. Protect shoppers. Enough excuses. Do your damn job!”
HonestReporting Canada, the local branch of the nongovernmental organization monitoring anti-Israel bias in the media, wrote that “Somebody in leadership needs to step up and put these agitators in their place. This hate should NOT be tolerated.”
In Australia, crowds were documented chanting “Globalize the intifada” and either “Gas the Jews” or “Where are the Jews?” (the actual phrasing is disputed) with no police intervention in the months that led up to the Dec. 14 massacre. Many Australian Jews have said that this inaction and the left-wing’s government’s hostility toward Israel served to fan the flames of anti-Israel hated and antisemitism.
Separately, a flash-mob anti-Israel protest was also held on Boxing Day in London’s Westfield Stratford City mall. No arrests were made and no calls for an intifada were recorded.
Asked by JNS on the actions taken at that mall, the Metropolitan Police of London said that “Local officers attended and, with the support of venue security, the group were dispersed. No offences were disclosed.”
The Toronto Police Service did not reply to JNS’s query in time for publication.
