Montreal’s Jewish community breathes a sigh of relief after the arrest of a minor in connection with the attack on a 51-year-old man on May 5 following the Israel Rally downtown.
Updated yesterday at 5:25 p.m.
The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) confirmed on Wednesday the arrest, last Thursday, of a 15-year-old teenager, since released on a promise to appear.
This arrest was quickly welcomed by the organization B’nai Brith, according to which “it is absolutely unacceptable that anyone is attacked in the streets of Montreal or elsewhere simply because they express their pride in Israel”.
Remember that B’nai Brith intervened last May to ask the SPVM to investigate this assault.
“B’nai Brith Canada and the Jewish community breathe sighs of relief that Montreal police have worked diligently on this appalling incident and have made an arrest,” said the National Director of the League for Human Rights. person from B’nai Brith, Marvin Rotrand, Wednesday, in a press release.
Punched in the face
The attack took place on May 5 at around 1:15 p.m. at the corner of Sainte-Catherine Ouest and Wood streets, after the Israel Rally downtown. Given the likelihood that the two suspects are minors, the SPVM had exceptionally released images and videos captured by cell phone to help identify them.
The victim, a man in his fifties who was holding an Israeli flag, had been ordered by the suspects to hand it over to them. Faced with the victim’s refusal, the suspects grabbed the object and rushed at the man. One of them had, among other things, struck the head of the victim with a branch.
A citizen wanting to help him was also hit in the face several times, the SPVM said.
Increase in hate crimes?
Although the motives for the attack remain unknown, B’nai Brith considers it an anti-Semitic act. The organization is concerned about a resurgence of this kind of incident in the country last year.
According to a count it made, they went from 626 in 2020 to 828 in 2021, an increase of 20.7%. Violent incidents targeting Jews meanwhile “exploded”, according to B’nai Brith, from 5 in 2020 to 36 in 2021.
“These are unacceptable figures,” says Marvin Rotrand. The Jewish community wants to see the province, city and police allocate the necessary resources to ensure there is no repeat of the 2021 explosion of anti-Semitic incidents.”