UPDATE (9/14/24): Toronto Police Service released images of three more suspects from the scene of events of Sept. 11, 2024.
Toronto police arrested and charged two women and a man with assaulting police officers at a demonstration outside a Jewish event at Meridian Hall Sept. 11—and then later outside the police station.
The incidents are the latest in rising numbers of separate cases involving officers being attacked in a variety of situations, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw told the police board at its meeting Sept. 12.
“Just last night we had two officers injured by demonstrators who resisted arrest at a downtown protest,” said Demkiw.
The three arrested and charged were part of a demonstration against the UJA Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto’s annual campaign launch fundraiser, which featured The Free Press website publisher Bari Weiss, the Anti-Defamation League’s Rabbi David Wolpe, actress Shira Haas, and Shlomo Lippman, an Israeli soldier and musician who performs for other IDF soldiers.
The protest was organized by the coalition Jews Say No to Genocide—whose member groups include the Jewish Faculty Network, and Independent Jewish Voices, which supports the boycott and divestment movement against Israel—and by queer and trans group Coalition Against Pinkwashing.
Protesters were attempting to get into the event, with some of them appearing to briefly block access to the box office, videos showed, when officers forcibly removed them.
In a media release, TPS said that a 45-year-old woman who “became combative and assaulted an officer” was arrested and charged with assaulting a peace officer.
Demonstrators were there “to condemn the platforming of individuals notorious for their roles in supporting Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people, spreading anti-Palestinian hate, and stoking anti-trans sentiment,” the groups wrote in a statement earlier that day, demanding the cancellation of the event at the downtown concert and event venue, which receives public funds and is managed by the City of Toronto’s TO Live programming team.
Protesters then assembled outside the 51 Division police station at Parliament Street, where the TPS release says a 27-year-old woman was arrested and charged for assaulting a peace officer.
A third person was also charged, for throwing a water bottle at an officer, “striking the officer in the face,” police allege.
A 25-year-old man was charged with assault with a weapon and assaulting a peace officer, according to the TPS release.
The three people are due in court Oct. 17 and 21, respectively, over the charges of assault at the two locations.
Demkiw told the board that the 90 new constables who have recently joined the force are doing so at a critical moment.
“As I told the new recruits a few weeks ago, they are joining the Service at a pivotal time, as we experience increased calls for service, and are responding to the dynamic impacts of geo-political events and are managing an unprecedented number of events and protests,” said Demkiw.
Toronto’s police chief updated the numbers of rising hate crime incidents in the city, saying the expanded hate crime unit had made 152 arrests and laid 378 charges since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Hamas attacks in Israel killed 1,200 and saw more than 240 people taken hostage triggering a war in Gaza. The Hamas-run health ministry estimates 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict.
On July 31, at the previous update, there had been 130 arrests and 314 charges laid since Oct. 7.
Toronto’s hate crime cases since the war began, nearly one year ago, include investigations into instances of hate propaganda, mischief, uttering threats, criminal harassment, and assaults, Demkiw said.
Police are now investigating a damaged window at a synagogue along Queen Street East, in the Beaches, as a suspicious incident, TPS wrote in a separate news release later on Sept. 12. Officers including a forensics team are looking into the source of the hole in the stained glass window at the Beach Hebrew Institute as part of a mischief investigation, the release said. TPS also said the Hate Crime Unit had been notified, and that area residents would see an increased police presence.
“As we approach the first anniversary of the tragic events from Oct. 7 of last year, our Service remains committed to doing all that we can to keep communities safe,” Demkiw said at the board meeting.
“[We] will not only do all that we can to prevent and investigate incidents of hate, we will also be transparent in communicating the quantitative impacts of hate crimes taking place in our city.”
Officers had responded to 1,744 hate crime calls for service, up from nearly 455 calls for service for suspected hate-motivated incidents during the same time period last year.
That was up from 1,556 calls for service related to hate crimes — TPS sometimes calls these suspected hate-motivated incidents or occurrences — at the previous update, roughly six weeks prior.
While mentioning the various policing situations that have placed officers in danger, Demkiw pointed out one example in which civilians had intervened to provide emergency medical care to an officer who “sustained a serious leg injury” trying to stop a motorcyclist who was driving dangerously near Rogers Centre in August.
“Had it not been for the life-saving measures undertaken by our officers and the willingness of the three civilians to become involved and lend their professional expertise, the outcome for our injured officer could have been much different,” he said, adding that the officer spent five days in hospital.
Demkiw, and members of the board, also commemorated the two-year anniversary of the death of a Toronto police officer, Constable Andrew Hong, 48, who was shot at close range by a lone gunman in an incident that also left two civilians dead.
Demkiw said that so far in 2024, 555 officers have been injured while performing their duties.
“These injuries highlight the inherent risks of the job,” he said, noting the force is “seeing a ten-year high in the number of assault peace officer offences.”
“Whether it’s carjackers ramming police cruisers, motorcyclists running officers over, or officers injured while trying to make an arrest, in 2024 we have seen our officers suffer a significant number of injuries, some of which have been very serious and will require lengthy recoveries.”
The police board is developing a public order policy over how police should manage protests, demonstrations, and occupations. Hundreds of individuals and organizations made submissions between June 28 and Aug. 30.
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which is winding down this weekend, has seen demonstrations at numerous screenings, starting with a disruption on Sept. 5 over Israeli investments by the Royal Bank of Canada, the financial institution sponsor of the 10-day festival.
TIFF also made international headlines around the Sept. 9 screening of The Bibi Files, the work-in-progress documentary about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption scandal. Netanyahu unsuccessfully tried to block the festival from screening the film, which includes leaked footage of his interrogation from his criminal investigation. An Israeli court ruled against Netanyahu’s motion, hours before the presentation, and the show went on.
Another TIFF protest on Sept. 11 saw a handful of demonstrators removed from a screening of Bliss, a movie that received Israeli government cultural funding.
