Arrest them!
Going up into traffic on the Gardiner Expressway or on the lanes that lead to and from the highway is not protest.
It’s terror.
This was on full display Tuesday at 7:36 a.m. when Toronto Police posted to X of the Gardiner that there was a “demo on Jarvis Street near (the) ramp” of “approximately 40 people” in which “road closures” are “in effect.”
In an aerial video you can see at least one protester hitting a car with a protest sign and in other shots it appears demonstrators were going up along the driver’s side of vehicles.
Terrifying.
At one point, a driver didn’t stop for the demonstrators and drove right through them, effectively throwing at least two of them to the ground. In the X post video posted by Harrison Faulkner from True North media, it appeared they were partially under the pickup.
It’s difficult to watch.
It reminds of the horrible incident that occurred in the Toronto City Hall parking lot in which Const. Jeffrey Northrup was killed. Cars and people don’t go well together. It can be deadly.
“Someone is going to get killed and the driver will end up in jail when they are just trying to go to work,” one X user posted.
You can hardly blame a driver for wanting to get away from what would appear to them to be an attack.
“If I had masked men running at my car, I’d be inclined to fear for my life,” another X user wrote. “I don’t know if I’d have been as considerate, out of pure terror.”
There has been no update from the police so far on potential injuries or charges. But this is in the earlier stages. Police have posted to X that “demonstrators have started marching” and have “stopped at Metropolitan Park.”
That is a good place to go and detain everybody involved and send a message that attempting to shut down the city and intimidating people on their way into work is not something Toronto is prepared to tolerate.
“Why are the police not arresting these protesters for blocking a major roadway?” one X user asked.
It’s a fair question — especially when reporters are often either pushed or arrested when trying to cover these events. There is no deterrence for thugs to shut down major roads and intersections or takeover train stations if the politicians don’t give police the backing they need to apply the law.
It doesn’t matter what the reason for the protest or the cause being demonstrated for. If it’s not done on a public square, it’s not legal protest. It’s obstructing regular citizens.
For months, the demonstrators supporting Hamas have been given what amounts to a pass to take over any street they like. In this case, the protesters were carrying red flags often seen at Indigenous protests.
Toronto lawyer and independent journalist Caryma Sa’d reported “this appears to be an anti-police demonstration on behalf of Tylor Maxie Coore.”
Coore, 32, was shot by Toronto Police in July at Parliament and Carlton Sts. after they were investigating reports or a person with a knife. Coore was shot and remains in hospital with serious injuries. He has been charged with two counts of assaulting a police officer.
“My son had mental issues,” Coore’s mom, Cheryl Maxie, said at an earlier protest outside 51 Division.
It has been reported that the man with “Afro-Indigenous” background also suffers from schizophrenia.
“He needs help,” his mom told protesters, as quoted in a CP24 report. “He doesn’t need to go to jail.”
His charges have not been tested in court.
But who should also be before the court system are those who went onto the streets and tried to block traffic. The driver trying to get away should not be charged but those violating the vehicle.
The SIU are probing the Maxie Coore police shooting but this should not prevent Toronto Police from applying the law to those who cross the line of peaceful protest and harass citizens merely trying to drive to work or their home. Police should not be affected by pressures of political entities or those bowing down to political correctness.
Arrest them — the same way Tamara Lich and Chis Barber were arrested at the Ottawa truckers protest.