Ottawa police announced Monday they were investigating an allegation of hate speech during a pro-Palestinian protest over the war between Israel and Gaza held Saturday on Parliament Hill.
The police force says it has received complaints regarding certain comments made during this gathering.
This included demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and signs calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
But in a video posted online, a man is heard praising the October 7 attack by Hamas and its affiliated groups, which killed 1,200 people in Israel.
“Our resistance attacks are proof that we are almost free,” one man says in the video. October 7 is proof that we are almost free. Long live October 7, long live the resistance, long live the Intifada, long live all forms of resistance. »
Police said officers from the hate crimes unit had launched an investigation.
Threats of violence are not protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which enshrines Canadians’ right to free assembly.
Unacceptable
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre have both said such comments are unacceptable.
In a message on the social network X on Sunday, Mr. Trudeau described certain speeches as “unacceptable” and “hateful intimidation”.
The Prime Minister wrote that there is “a difference between peaceful protests and hateful intimidation.”
“It is unacceptable to glorify the acts of anti-Semitic violence, including the murders, that Hamas committed on October 7. This kind of speech has no place in Canada. Absolutely not,” said Mr. Trudeau.
Mr. Poilievre also denounced the “malicious” messages heard on Saturday. “I condemn these progenocidal anti-Semitic chants,” declared the conservative leader.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh added his voice Monday. “I unequivocally condemn those who chant inflammatory, hateful remarks and who glorify the terror and death of October 7,” he said.
The federal special representative for the fight against Islamophobia described the comments heard during the demonstration as “problematic”, but stressed that it was a minority point of view.
“A few demonstrators made problematic comments. This is unacceptable and contrary to our shared values, wrote Amira Elghawaby on Network Canada to respect and protect international humanitarian law aligns with terrorism. »
The federal envoy in the fight against anti-Semitism, Deborah Lyons, also denounced this rhetoric.
“Society’s unwillingness to confront the normalization of anti-Semitism and the glorification of terrorism allows words to turn into violence,” she said.
Several activist groups named in online posts announcing the rally did not respond when contacted by The Canadian Press on Monday.