A police chief in Toronto has apologized after a video posted on social media of officers giving coffee to protesters supporting Palestinians was slammed by politicians.
Recently, police shut the overpass on Avenue Road at Highway 401, disclosing on social media they were there to keep demonstrators and passing traffic safe. Footage from the overpass posted on Facebook by Palestine House, a community organization, reveals protesters holding Palestinian flags and chanting “Free Palestine.”
In another video posted on social media by a user identified as Caryma Sa’d shows police officers carrying a box of coffee and cups to people standing on the overpass.
The man who collected the coffee tells the person recording at the scene that someone brought the coffee but police did not allow them on the overpass, so police took the coffee to those on the overpass.
While reacting to the development, Marco Mendicino, the member of Parliament for the Toronto riding of Eglinton-Lawrence and the former federal minister of public safety, criticized what Toronto police did.
Mendicino tweeted: “Police serving coffee and food to protestors will just embolden more deliberate obstruction of traffic, undermine public safety, and add to local frustrations. Laws exist to prevent this. They need to be enforced!”
Anthony Housefather, another MP who represents the Mount Royal riding in Quebec, described the move as “a very poor decision.”
However, Toronto Police Chief, Myron Demkiw, apologized in a statement for the “concern and confusion” created by “one particular interaction between officers and a person.”
Demkiw stated that he’s convened “command meetings” to review the day’s events.
He said: “Let me be clear and unequivocal: our commitment to keeping our city’s Jewish community safe is unwavering. We are doing everything we can in the locations that have been targeted for demonstration to uphold and enforce the law.”
The overpass rally came after a series of protests in Toronto about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which was triggered by Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel that left around 1,200 people dead.
Meanwhile, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, which advocates on behalf of Jewish federations in Canada, posted on social media that the overpass is not a typical protest site.
The post read: “It’s an overpass in the heart of a residential neighbourhood, one that’s home to many Jewish families.”
