Trudeau says he expects Montreal rioters to be 'pursued and punished' (2024)

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday called violent protests that took place outside a NATO meeting days prior “absolutely unacceptable” and said he expects the perpetrators to face consequences.

“As a democracy, as a country that will always defend freedom of speech, it’s important for people to be able to go out and protest and express their anger, their disagreements in free and comfortable ways. But there is never any room for antisemitism, for hatred, discrimination, for violence,” said Trudeau addressing the NATO Parliamentary Assembly that has been meeting in the city, prompting applause from the room.

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“We expect all those responsible to be pursued and punished under the full extent of the law, and we expect the authorities to do their work.”

Montreal police have already arrested three people for assaulting a police officer and are expected to arrest more following an anti-NATO and anti-Israel demonstration that began late Friday afternoon, which included torching cars and smashing building windows. Photos and videos that circulated widely on social media showed masked participants and chants of “free Palestine.” Protesters set off smoke bombs and burned an effigy representing the Israeli prime minister.

The protest was organized by the groups Divest for Palestine and the Convergence of Anti-Capitalist Struggles, although it’s unclear who was responsible for the alleged criminal acts. A police spokesperson said the demonstrators were completely dispersed at around 7 p.m.

Deputy Conservative leader Melissa Lantsman said on Monday that Trudeau was “nowhere to be found” when the Friday protests took place and it took him until noon the next day to offer “the most basic platitudes, resembling some standard condemnation.”

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Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said all police forces across the country are combating the rise in antisemitism and hate crimes.

“Let me be very clear… no matter what group you claim to represent or what cause you’re advancing, if you’re smashing windows and assaulting Canadians, you’re a criminal and you’ll face the full consequences of the law,” he said.

Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum this weekend, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Defence Minister Bill Blair condemned Friday’s demonstration.

“The fact that there was violence in the streets of my hometown was completely unacceptable. What we saw was not peaceful protest. What we saw was actually violence, hate and antisemitism, and this has no place on our streets,” said Joly.

“Of course, we believe in freedom of speech, we believe in the freedom to demonstrate but where we draw the line is when there’s violence.”

Blair, a former police chief, said “this was nothing like lawful, peaceful protest” and said there was “anarchy” in the streets of Montreal.

“I believe that lawful, peaceful protest can be co-opted by anarchists who have other agendas. Those agendas were quite apparent by the activities of that mob yesterday and those behaviours were unacceptable and we condemn them — and particularly the hate and antisemitism that was on display in the strongest possible terms.”

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Friday’s protests followed another demonstration on Thursday which saw Mai Abdulhadi, a Second Cup franchise owner at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital, allegedly giving the Nazi salute and shouting “the final solution is coming” — a phrase associated with Nazi Germany’s plan to exterminate Jews.Second Cup announced the termination of the franchisee on Saturday.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre placed responsibility on the violence in the streets of Montreal on Trudeau and lambasted him for being at a Taylor Swift concert in Toronto with his family the same evening protesters were breaking windows and burning cars.

“We are reaping what you sowed,” wrote Poilievre on X in response to Trudeau’s statement. “This is what happens when a Prime Minister spends 9 years pushing toxic woke identity politics, dividing and subdividing people by race, gender, vaccine status, religion, region, age, wealth, etc.”

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante disagreed with federal politicians’ suggestions that Friday’s protests on the margins of the NATO meeting were antisemitic in nature and said that they were taken over by “professional vandals.”

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She said “agitators” regularly show up at protests in the city to vandalize property, such as smashing windows, and police are used to dealing with them.

“Protesting is a sign of a healthy democracy, but the vandals are just thinking of themselves and not the cause or the effects it will have on everyone else,” she said.

Plante added that she was “extremely proud” of her city’s police force and said more arrests are to be expected as police examine the footage of the events.

Montreal police chief Fady Dagher told Radio-Canada’s radio morning show the actual rioting on Friday evening only lasted about five minutes.

Quebec Premier François Legault said the provincial police, Sûreté du Québec, was ready to support the Montreal police’s efforts to arrest the agitators of the Friday night protests if need be.

National Post, with files from Montreal Gazette and The Canadian Press.
calevesque@postmedia.com

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