A Toronto lawyer is setting the record straight about what actually happened at a protest over the weekend after video appears to show police bringing pro-Palestine demonstrators coffee.
On Saturday afternoon, pro-Palestine protesters were demonstrating at the Avenue Road overpass, one of many demonstrations that has transpired during the last couple weeks over the Israel-Hamas war.
In a video shared on X by Toronto lawyer and independent journalist Caryma Sa’d, a couple of police officers are seen bringing Tim Hortons coffee to these protesters. In response, some online users criticized the police for choosing sides and being pro-Hamas.
However, Sa’d who was at the scene tells Now Toronto that police did not “gift” the coffee to the protesters.
In the video, a man is heard asking the protester holding the coffee, “How did you get coffee from the police?” to which he responds, “Well, not the police. Someone bought it for us, but police won’t let them in, so the police are now becoming our little messengers between us.”
Sa’d says police decided to shut down the area once the protest was underway and thus, additional protesters who later came, like the one who purchased the coffee, could not join the demonstration.
“It is my understanding that one protester who arrived with the initial group then left to get a carton of coffee was not permitted to rejoin the demonstration. Police took the coffee from them and handed it over to a protester who did not leave the bridge— the officer only transported the carton a few feet, as a gesture of goodwill and likely to de-escalate tension,” she explained in a statement to Now Toronto on Monday.
She adds that shortly after the coffee “incident,” the group of additional protesters decided to simply walk around police to join their comrades on the bridge and police attempted to block others from doing the same, and overall, the situation was “poorly managed.”
Later, police eventually reopened the bridge to traffic and let protesters continue their demonstration as long as they agreed to stay on one side of the overpass and only on the sidewalk.
Sa’d was quick to point out the media online for misconstruing the video.
“The Canadian news cycle is a vortex,” she wrote in one of her posts on X.
POLICE APOLOGIZE IN STATEMENT
In response to the controversial exchange, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw issued an apology and said he has ordered a thorough review of the day’s events.
The statement did not specify the coffee incident but instead described it as “one particular interaction between officers and a person on the Avenue Road bridge.”
“Whatever the intent, the impact has been to cause concern and confusion, and for that I am sorry. I immediately convened Command meetings and ordered a thorough review of the day’s events and to ensure that the most effective operational planning and responses are in place,” Demkiw said in a statement Sunday evening.
“Let me be clear and unequivocal: our commitment to keeping our city’s Jewish community safe is unwavering. We are doing everything we can in the locations that have been targeted for demonstration to uphold and enforce the law,” he continued.
The Avenue Road overpass is located in a predominantly Jewish area in Toronto and as a result, some residents felt targeted by the ongoing protests.
Now Toronto reached out to Toronto police to confirm details of the exchange, but did not hear back in time of publication.
