"What
we saw was not peaceful protest. What we saw was actually violence,
hate and antisemitism, and this has no place on our streets."
"Of
course we believe in the freedom of speech, we believe in the freedom
to demonstrate, but where we draw the line is when there's violence."
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly
"It was engagement in violence and hatred on display in the City of Montreal."
"Those
behaviours are unacceptable and we can condemn them, and in particular
the hatred and antisemitism that was on display, in the strongest
possible terms."
Defence Minister Bill Blair
A
violent crowd of hundreds of pro-Hamas demonstrators rioted in Montreal
after a day of province-wide university student demonstrations when
thousands took to the streets to demand that Quebec universities divest
from investments with firms having connections in any form to Israel. A
day later, on Friday a coalition of leftist anti-capitalists and
'pro-Palestinian' groups marched in front of the Palais de Congres de
Montreal where some 300 delegates representing NATO member states were
attending a high-level summit from November 22 to 25 with a focus on
Ukraine,
climate change, and the future of the alliance.
At the time of
the meeting and the chaotic protest Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in
Toronto, attending the penultimate night's performance of popular
celebrity singer Taylor Swift, with his family. He was right royally
entertained and did some entertaining of his own, dancing clownishly to
the music of the entertainer's sad songs of yearning and regret,
disappointment and recovery. Very apt, in that Canadians are yearning to
be rid of this quasi-adult foppishly displaying himself while enacting
policies whose virtues are the destruction of Canadian values.
Regret and disappointment are ours; we await recovery in the wake of his electoral defeat.
Demonstrators fill Ste-Catherine St. during Friday’s protest.Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette
In downtown Montreal havoc reigned on Friday night when protesters
exercised their freedom to demonstrate against what they characterized
as the "complicity" of NATO member countries in a conflict they claim
has cost thousands of Palestinian lives. Their black-and-white portrayal
of a nation of Jews fighting back against the terror that has
threatened the Jewish State for all its years of existence when it could
no longer seek to appease the claims of victimization of challengers
for Judaic ancestral territory expressed in the murderous rage of
savagely lethal atrocities, forcing it to retaliate and root out its
violent tormentors.
Police found
themselves confronted by a raging mob resisting efforts to restore calm
and security to the area by a mob fully invested in its anarchic goal of
total disruption of civilizational mores. The 'demonstration' of utter
lawlessness began in the late afternoon, when violence accelerated and
cars were incinerated, smoke bombs thrown and metal barriers tossed into
the street. Thugs began smashing the convention centre windows and went
on to do the same to windows of nearby businesses.
Riot police line the sidewalk on St-Laurent Blvd.Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette
Police
stated the arrest of a 22-year-pold woman for having obsrtucted police
work and assaulting a police officer. Two men, 22 and 28 were arrested
for obstructing police actions, all released, to appear at a later date
in court. Police also announced that the technique of facial recognition
despite most of the malefactors wearing masks to conceal their
identities, would be employed and they have expectations that the
identities of the major disrupters and dispensers of violence would be
achieved, and further charges brought.
The
groups Divest for Palestine and the Convergence of Anti-Capitalist
Struggles were identified as the organizers of the protests. Members of
Divest for Palestine claimed injuries caused by police physical handling
of the protesters, four of them, they claimed, having to be taken to
hospital for medical attention. Doubtless, the Jewish General Hospital
medical staff would do their utmost to honour their medical calling of
service to all regardless of who, what, when and where.
According
to one Benoit Allard of Divest for Palestine, the protest purpose was
demonstrating against NATO'S "complicity with Israel's military while
it's conducting its genocide in Gaza ... war crimes in Lebanon, Syria"
and "It's enforcing illegal occupation of Palestinian territories".
These are people immune to both reality, reason and history. Their minds
set in the ironclad conviction that any situation involving Jewish
human rights of survival and resistance are illegal and represent
criminal offences.
Still from video of an anti-NATO/pro-Palestine protest Friday night shows windows
being smashed at the Montreal Convention Centre as a flare releases red
smoke. NATO delegates are in the city this weekend to discuss support
for Ukraine, climate change and the future of the alliance.
The
statements by Melanie Joly and Bill Blair fail to hold up to scrutiny,
given the fact that the Liberal government that they represent has
engaged in its own brand of antisemitism, leaving the Canadian Jewish
community to fend for itself when fulminating bands of pro-Hamas
defenders of anti-Israel accusations march into Jewish neighbourhoods
for the express purpose of intimidation and threats against their
security, with demands for a 'Final Solution', and chanting 'From the
River to the Sea', code for the elimination of Israel.
This represents a general opinion site for its author. It also offers a space for the author to record her experiences and perceptions,both personal and public. This is rendered obvious by the content contained in the blog, but the space is here inviting me to write. And so I do.
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