Toronto police have responded to a viral video showing officers handing out coffee to anti-Israel demonstrators during recent demonstrations.
The video, first shared on X by lawyer and investigative journalist Karima Saad, shows a Toronto police officer carrying a box and cup of Tim Hortons coffee and handing it to a protester.
The recipient, dressed in Palestinian costume, said the delivery was not from the police, but someone else who had bought the coffee for protesters planning to stage an anti-Israel demonstration on a highway overpass. I explained that it had been sent to me. “But the police won't let them in, so now the police have become a bit of a messenger between us,” the man said.
The video received an outpouring of criticism online from critics who allege police preferential treatment for people protesting against Israel, a move that comes after Canadian law enforcement agencies have protested COVID-19 mandates in the past. This contrasted sharply with the way the “Freedom Convoy” of truck drivers was being policed. Some pro-life demos.
Speaking to FOX News Digital on Sunday, Toronto Police spokesperson Laurie McCann said: “Police are managing a dynamic situation regarding the X coffee post.”
“Their number one priority is to maintain order in the tense environment on the Avenue Road Bridge,” McCann said in an email. “The motives of the officers who performed the helpful act yesterday were to keep tensions low and should not be construed as an indication of support for any cause or group.”
“Our law enforcement officers remain committed to quelling these demonstrations and maintaining calm and public safety,” McCann added.
The account @LibsofTikTok amplified the video, which has been viewed more than 1 million times on “The police will deliver hot coffee to those who have committed the crime.”
“@TorontoPolice is serving coffee and donuts to Hamas supporters. @OttawaPolice is guilty of anti-Semitic hate crimes,” Rebel News publisher Ezra Levant wrote in a post to his approximately 428,000 followers. Both have been colonized by dangerous awakened partisans.”
The video was released as Toronto police investigate a fire and graffiti at a Jewish-owned grocery store as a possible hate crime.
The message “Liberate Palestine” was spray-painted outside a store called International Delicatessen Foods on Steeles Avenue West near Petrolia Road, CBC reported.
Toronto police confirmed to Fox News Digital that the incident was still under investigation as of Sunday.
In addition to the Toronto Coffee video, Levant responded to a press release on Friday stating that the Ottawa Police Hate and Bias Crimes Unit has charged individuals following “a series of incidents of property mischief in the downtown area in December.” Announced.
The suspect's name was omitted in the police statement.
“On the evening of Dec. 22, this individual spray-painted a series of anti-Semitic symbols and other hateful messages at multiple locations in the downtown and Golden Triangle area.” “A man has been identified and charged with 18 counts of criminal damage to property. He is scheduled to appear in court today,” the release states.
Another commentator, lawyer Ryan O'Connor, shared a screenshot of a post by another Toronto police officer who initially defended the video, saying officers managed a “dynamic situation.”
“That's why a Toronto police spokesperson who defended police providing taxpayer-funded coffee to demonstrators blocking highway bridges and entrances to Jewish quarters on Shabbat has been posted online. “I only deleted my Twitter account after being criticized for it,” O'Connor claimed.
“Toronto Police: If you block a highway bridge, including one of only three road entrances to a Jewish neighborhood on the Sabbath, you can expect to avoid arrest and get a tax-funded coffee for your efforts.” It can be done,” Oh said. Connor previously responded to the video, writing:
