A Montreal man arrested while holding an Israeli flag at a cycling race is suing the city and four police officers, alleging excessive force and a fabricated account of his conduct, CTV News reported on Friday.
Daniel Bercovici, 47, seeks $86,301 in compensatory and punitive damages over his arrest at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on Sept. 14, 2025.
His lawsuit says he attended peacefully to support the Israel-Premier Tech team. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators were protesting its participation.
Officers confronted him without provocation, took him to the ground, unlawfully searched him and arrested him, the suit alleges. Demonstrators allegedly tried to strike him with flagpoles as he was escorted away.
Bercovici was charged with obstructing a peace officer three days later. According to the lawsuit, a prosecutor reviewed defense video evidence and injury photographs on July 9, 2026, then withdrew the charge on July 28, expressly citing the video.
The suit, filed in late August, alleges officers accused him of taunts, insults, aggressively brandishing his flag and ignoring warnings and orders. It claims their account was written from memory hours afterward, without notes of the arrest.
None of the allegations has been proven in court. CTV said the video shows officers escorting a man holding an Israeli flag away from protesters, but not his arrest.
“I went to a cycling race to support an Israeli team. I should have been able to do that peacefully and safely,” Bercovici told the outlet.
The team subsequently rebranded as NSN Cycling Team for the 2026 season.
Montreal police declined to comment to CTV because the case is before the court.
“His obstruction charge was withdrawn after the prosecutor reviewed video evidence. Who answers for that?” Bercovici’s lawyer, Neil G. Oberman, wrote on X on Friday.
“Jewish expression, including the peaceful display of an Israeli flag, is entitled to the same protection as any other lawful expression,” said Benjamin Ryberg, chief operating officer of The Lawfare Project. “The Lawfare Project is supporting this case because the answer to hostility toward that expression cannot be to silence or remove the person exercising those rights.”
