Canadian police forces are beefing up security as tensions rise across the Middle East and as the anniversary of Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel approaches.
Toronto Police Chief Myron Demchio said emotions are “running high” in Toronto ahead of the anniversary.
“The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to deeply impact communities across our city, and we know that in the days and weeks ahead, we will see difficulty in our communities,” Demcchio told reporters on Tuesday.
Demcchio said police expect “increased protest activity and violence” before Monday.
“As a result, Torontonians will notice an increased police presence across the city,” he added.
Police in neighboring York Region are also working to increase their police presence ahead of Monday.
York Police said in a press release: “Officers will increase foot and mobile patrols near religious institutes, schools and community centres.”
Demchio said police will have a “visible and reassuring presence” across Toronto, and that the city will see an increased presence of not only uniformed officers, but also plainclothes officers. A major incident command center is also being established, operating seven days a week.
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Marked police vehicles will patrol some communities using fixed red and blue lights on rooftop bars to enhance visibility.
Toronto police are also setting up mobile command centers in the ghettos of Bathurst, Glencairn, Bathurst, Sheppard, Bathurst and Finch. A mobile command center will also be deployed in major mosques across the city.
The past year since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which killed 1,200 people in Israel, has seen anger, demonstrations, and sometimes threats of violence, around the world, including in Canada.
Global News has documented the rise in anti-Semitism unleashed by the October 7 attacks, as well as a disturbing rise in reports of hate crimes targeting members of Jewish and Muslim communities across the country.
Criminal proceedings are ongoing after RCMP charged an Ottawa youth late last year with facilitating terrorist activity “through the delivery of educational materials relating to an explosive substance.”
He was also accused of “instructing, directly or indirectly, a person to carry out terrorist activity against Jewish persons.”
Iran, which supports Hezbollah and other proxies in the Middle East, fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killing of senior Hezbollah leaders over the weekend.
Israel continued its attacks on Lebanon after the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. It also launched limited ground raids on areas of southern Lebanon early on Tuesday.
Less than a third of Canadians in Lebanon are taking government-assisted commercial flights out of the country when they are offered, officials said Tuesday, urging everyone to seize the opportunity while it remains available.
As of Tuesday, nearly 300 Canadians had left Lebanon on government-chartered flights from Beirut to Istanbul, a senior Global Affairs Canada official said as they discussed the ongoing operation. The official confirmed that the government is reserving seats on at least three more flights from Beirut this week, and more flights may be chartered as needed in the coming days.
“If you are offered a seat, please accept it,” Foreign Minister Mélanie Jolie told reporters in Ottawa earlier Tuesday.
“The reality is that not all of the seats we secured were filled.”
– With files from Global’s Sean Boynton
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