Five people were arrested Sunday and charged in connection with the display and distribution of antisemitic signs at an anti-Israel demonstration in Toronto on March 15, according to the Toronto Police Service.
Police said Hosaam Hemdan, 19; Omer Turcan, 43; Hasan Aydin, 48; and Yasaf Shaikh, 46, all of Toronto, as well as Syed Hussaini, 43, of Whitby, were charged with “wilful promotion of hatred” and “public incitement of hatred” at a protest near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue. Hemdan, Turcan and Hussaini also face charges of wearing a “disguise with intent.”
Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center stated that the signs depicted Jews as rats and as grotesque caricatures with exaggerated features, imagery widely associated with antisemitic propaganda. The group filed a complaint with police and called for criminal charges and prosecution.
The arrests follow the earlier charging of Muhammad Anas Sial, 33, of Toronto, who was accused of carrying antisemitic signs and shouting derogatory remarks at pro-Israel demonstrators during the same protest. He was later charged with both “public incitement of hatred” and “wilful promotion of hatred.”
In the days after the March 15 demonstration, Toronto police imposed an operational ban preventing anti-Israel protesters from their weekly Sunday demonstration on residential streets in the Bathurst-Sheppard area, citing concerns about public safety and escalating behavior.
