4.500 demonstrators show support for Palestine in downtown Toronto

TRENTON, Canada

About 4,500 demonstrators showed support Saturday for Palestine in a protest in front of the US Consulate in downtown Toronto.

The annual Al-Quds Day to support Palestinians went ahead after a judge refused the Ontario government’s last-minute bid to ban the demonstration.

The event attracted a heavy police presence, but only two arrests were made, one by a counter-protester. Some demonstrators waved Palestinian and Iranian flags and chanted: “Free Palestine,” the Globe and Mail newspaper reported.

Several organizations, including the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), argued in court against the ban in order “to defend civil liberties of the right to protest and to push back on anti-Palestinian racism.”

The province filed a motion at noon Saturday.

“We were pleased to see the court in this case uphold the importance of charter-protected freedoms by dismissing the application,” the NCCM said in a statement.

In trying to stop the event, Premier Doug Ford said the rally was “a breeding ground for hate and antisemitism.”

A shot was fired at the US Consulate early Tuesday.

But Justice Robert Centa dismissed the province’s motion, saying that there was “insufficient evidence” that police needed the court order.

“The court expects the participants not to engage in any criminal or tortious activity during the protest,” said the judge, according to the Globe and Mail.

“The court expects the police to enforce the law. No order of this court is necessary to achieve either of those ends,” the judge wrote in a brief decision delivered by video conference.