Toronto·Updated
Toronto police say they are increasing their presence along hospital row after a pro-Palestinian protest downtown on Monday night, including outside Mount Sinai Hospital.
Protest swiftly condemned by all levels of government; organizing groups deny hospital targeted
Desmond Brown · CBC News
· Posted: Feb 13, 2024 4:27 PM EST | Last Updated: less than a minute ago
Protesters seen here with Palestinian flags on hospital row Monday. Politicians including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford have denounced the protest. (Linda Reddekopp/CBC)Toronto police say they are increasing their presence along hospital row after a pro-Palestinian protest downtown on Monday night, including outside Mount Sinai Hospital.
Toronto Police Service spokesperson Stephanie Sayer told CBC News the increased police presence is to ensure that essential hospital services and emergency routes remain accessible.
“Interfering with the operations of a hospital is not acceptable,” Sayer wrote in an email.
Police have not said if the hospital’s operations were impacted by the protest. The hospital has not responded to CBC News’s request for comment.
“The Toronto Police Service is investigating several incidents that occurred in front of Mount Sinai Hospital and along the demonstration route. As we have said before, officers use their discretion during large crowd demonstrations and even if arrests are not deemed safe to make at the time, investigations will continue and charges can be laid at a later date,” Sayer said.
In videos posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, apparently from the time of the protest, a person can be seen climbing an awning that’s branded Mount Sinai Hospital while waving a Palestinian flag.
Another video shows scores of people along hospital row also calling for “intifada” while many of them waved Palestinian flags. Intifada is an Arabic word to describe more than one Palestinian uprising over the decades.
Trudeau condemns ‘display of antisemitism’The protest action was denounced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.
“The demonstration at Mount Sinai Hospital yesterday was reprehensible. Hospitals are places for treatment and care, not protests and intimidation,” Trudeau wrote on X.
“I strongly condemn this display of antisemitism. In Toronto and across Canada, we stand with Jewish communities against this hate.”
The demonstration at Mount Sinai Hospital yesterday was reprehensible. Hospitals are places for treatment and care, not protests and intimidation.
I strongly condemn this display of antisemitism. In Toronto and across Canada, we stand with Jewish communities against this hate.
—@JustinTrudeauAt a news conference in Mississauga on Tuesday, Ford described the action as “absolutely terrible.”
“Folks, get some decency, have common sense. These hospitals are there to save lives … they’re there to help people. Do not, do not break the law,” Ford said.
He said the federal government has passed a law that people cannot protest in front of hospitals, adding that even without the law, “you have to have an ounce of decency no to do this. I don’t care what you’re protesting … if you want to protest, go to city hall, come down to Queen’s Park, jump up and down, do whatever you want but don’t prohibit people going into a hospital when they are in there saving people’s lives.”
Read my statement on events outside Mount Sinai Hospital yesterday: pic.twitter.com/fWb8lpcEvl
—@MayorOliviaChowMeanwhile, Chow said the actions at the hospital, “founded by Toronto’s Jewish community, were unacceptable.
“Targeting Jewish institutions is antisemitic and hate has no place in our city,” Chow said.
Emergency department physician Raghu Venugopal, in a post on X, described the group’s action as “disappointing,” adding that he and another colleague went to the hospital to witness and counter-protest any kind of protest in front of a hospital.
WATCH | Dr. Raghu Venugopal, an ER doctor, speaks out against protest:
Toronto doctor condemns intimidation by pro-Palestinian protesters at Mount Sinai HospitalEmergency physician Dr. Raghu Venugopal spoke to security guards outside Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital on Monday who told him they were ‘roughed up’ by pro-Palestinian protesters who also scaled scaffolding and entered the hospital. ‘People have the democratic right to protest, and they should. However, it cannot be on hospital grounds impeding or intimidating anyone from accessing those facilities,’ he said.
“It’s a disappointing evening in front of Mount Sinai Hospital, a Jewish-identified hospital in Toronto. Protesters have been on these hallowed and sacred hospital grounds to protest,” Venugopal said in the post.
“Protesting in Canada is everyone’s right but according to laws of our land in Canada, you cannot protest in such a way to impede or intimidate access of health-care workers or patients at a hospital. This is federal Bill C-3, which has been passed into law.”
Protestors deny hospital targetedIn response to the politicians’ remarks, some who said they were present at the protest spoke out on social media, saying the hospital was not the target of the demonstration.
Toronto4Palestine, a grassroots organization involved in organizing the protest, issued a statement Tuesday night, calling it “shameful” that Trudeau and elected officials characterized the protest as antisemitic because it passed by a Jewish-named hospital.
“It just happens to be along our regular rally route, which we pass by on a usual basis, as we head to rally in front of the U.S. consulate,” said the group, which describes itself as a “dedicated community-based movement amplifying oppressed voices.”
“Meanwhile, Israel’s complete decimation of Gaza’s healthcare system, its disabling of every hospital within the Strip, its deliberate targeting of civilians within hospital grounds, and its killing of more than 340 healthcare workers don’t warrant even the slightest expression of protest or condemnation from them.
“The double standards are as blatant as they are odious, and their comments don’t warrant any serious engagement. They will say whatever they must to preserve their political careers.”
The group added that it has a right to protest under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“It is an infringement of our constitutional rights and clear efforts to distract from the war crimes being committed on the ground in Gaza, in these ongoing genocide that has taken the lives of over 30,000 innocent civilians, 70 per cent of whom are women and children,” the group said. Palestinian officials have said more than 27,000 people have been killed in the war on Gaza.
“Not only will we seek accountability from the leadership that funded the onslaught of innocent civilians with our tax dollars, but we will also hold them accountable for any assault on members of our community due to their complicity in fuelling and perpetuating anti-Palestinian racist sentiments.”
Police are appealing to anyone who witnessed the events Monday night or who experienced harassment to contact them.
With files from Stephanie Skenderis
