A few hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators demonstrated loudly near the Spanish-Portuguese Shearith-Israel synagogue, in the Côte-des-Neiges district, supervised by a large police contingent.
A group of pro-Israel demonstrators, who had gathered less than ten meters from them, on St-Kevin Avenue, left suddenly when the pro-Palestine demonstrators began to chant “Allahu Akbar » (God is greatest), perceived in the context as a threat against the Jews.
“We prefer to leave so as not to let the situation escalate,” explained Rabbi Daniel Benlolo.
Police officers equipped with irritant gas are deployed very close to the synagogue. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators, called to demonstrate by Independent Jewish Voices of Canada, criticize the synagogue for hosting a real estate show earlier today in which developers were seeking Canadian buyers for condos in different locations in Israel.
Pro-Palestinian protesters claim that some of these properties are in occupied Palestinian territory, which Rabbi Benlolo denies.
More details to come.