Attendance at the “Walk with Israel” exceeded 56,000 participants despite concerns about violence or even a terrorist attack from radical Islamists. The event also came days after a pro-Palestinian gunman admitting to shooting and killing two people outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College, attended the weekend march after telling AFN last week he was concerned about the safety of attendees and the lack of support from police. While attending the march, he says he saw a protester walking around with a hand grenade attached to his jacket.
“We reported this to the [police] sergeant,” McVety recalls. “He called up to the powers-at-be and they told him to do nothing.”
McVety’s eyewitness account was backed up by a Toronto Sun article that included photos of the grenade-wearing protester that were sent to the newspaper. The op-ed, written by Sun reporter Joe Warmington, says the brazen attempt to intimidate marchers is another example of “Hamas supporters” who can do “whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want.”
McVety similarly complained to AFN last week that violent anti-Jewish protesters are treated much too kindly by the City of Toronto and, in particular, by police officers who are instructed to leave the protesters alone.
In a statement sent to AFN, a spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service said several police officers observed the “item in question,” which was a novelty key chain, which police determined did not pose a threat.
“Based on that assessment, it was not seized,” the TPS spokesperson said.
One of the photos shared with the Sun showed a police officer standing just feet away from the protester.
According to McVety, he was concerned the protester was wearing a real grenade and police were allowing him to threaten march participants, including McVety.
“They were not wanting to upset the Jihadis,” McVey complains. “And that's really policing in a nutshell in Toronto.”
