{"id":161625,"date":"2026-08-09T15:01:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T15:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/161625\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T15:01:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T15:01:06","slug":"two-pro-palestinian-activists-arrested-following-actions-at-march-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/161625\/","title":{"rendered":"Two pro-Palestinian activists arrested following actions at March protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Police Service announced the arrests of two additional individuals in connection with a hate propaganda investigation stemming from a pro-Palestinian protest<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Both suspects face charges of willful promotion of hatred and public incitement of hatred. The latest enforcement action brings the total number of people charged in the ongoing investigation to eight.<\/p>\n

According to police<\/a>, the investigation traces back to a weekly protest on March 15, when pro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Israel counter-protesters gathered at the intersection of Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West.<\/p>\n

Investigators allege that earlier that morning, the accused individuals visited a storage locker to retrieve antisemitic signs.<\/p>\n

Later that afternoon, they allegedly joined other protesters at the intersection, displaying the signs in full view of the public and a group of pro-Israel protesters situated across the street. Police stated that the individuals marched toward the Israel supporters while shouting derogatory slurs.<\/p>\n

\"TorontoToronto police stand watch near the Al-Quds day protest in Toronto, Ontario, on March 14, 2026; Illustrative. (credit: Geoff Robins \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Members of the Hate Crime Unit executed a search warrant in Toronto, locating and arresting two suspects on Friday. Daniela Bonamico, 40, of Toronto, and Shahram Nayeb-Yazdi, 63, of Toronto<\/a>, were each charged with wilful promotion of hatred and public incitement of hatred.<\/p>\n

The arrests follow a series of charges previously announced by authorities. In April, Muhammad Anas Sial, 33, of Toronto, was charged with public incitement of hatred and wilful promotion of hatred. Subsequently, in June, Hosaam Hemdan, 19, Omer Turcan, 43, Yasaf Skaikh, 46, Hasan Aydin, 47, all of Toronto, and Syed Hussaini, 43, of Whitby, were arrested and faced identical charges, with Hemdan, Turcan, and Hussaini also receiving additional counts of disguise with intent.<\/p>\n

Police noted that the suspects were scheduled to appear in court at the Toronto Regional Bail Centre on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Jewish groups demand enforcement of Canadian hate propaganda laws\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following the March rally, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), B\u2019nai Brith Canada, and UJA Federation of Greater Toronto condemned the rhetoric and sent a joint letter to Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw demanding immediate enforcement of Canada\u2019s hate propaganda laws.<\/p>\n

CIJA released a statement on social media today, saying, \u201cFollowing a March 15 hateful protest targeting Toronto\u2019s Jewish community \u2013 with propaganda and signs evoking the Nazi era \u2013 we joined @UJAFederation, @BnaiBrithCanada and thousands of Canadians in demanding that authorities take a tougher stand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The advocacy group welcomed the update, stating: \u201cWe welcome the Toronto Police\u2019s announcement that two more extremists have been arrested and charged with wilful promotion of hatred and public incitement of hatred, bringing the total number charged to eight.\u201d<\/p>\n

CIJA stressed that \u201cThere must be consequences for promoting hatred \u2013 whether at home or abroad. We call on Foreign Minister @AnitaAnandMP and Global Affairs Canada (@CanadaFP) to explain what steps are being taken to ensure that extremists, including hate-criminals, do not export their vitriol beyond Canada\u2019s borders.\u201d<\/p>\n

CIJA urged government leaders and authorities to \u201chold criminals accountable. And our political leaders must ensure their words and actions do not embolden extremists who demonize Israel and contribute to an increasingly hostile environment for Jewish Canadians<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surge of recent incidents target Jewish, Israeli institutions across Canada<\/p>\n

The latest police arrests come amid heightened tensions surrounding recurring protests at the Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West intersection, coinciding with a surge of incidents targeting Jewish and Israeli institutions across Canada over the past month.<\/p>\n

These include suspected antisemitic arson and shooting attacks targeting Jewish-owned Kiva\u2019s Bagel Bar locations in Toronto, the destruction of the kosher restaurant Noam in Montreal, and an incident involving an attempted knife attack at the Israel Pavilion kitchen tent during the Heritage Festival in Edmonton last Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Toronto Police Service announced the arrests of two additional individuals in connection with a hate propaganda investigation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[6422,3124,10178,6592,17,5340,21749,48],"class_list":["post-161625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-activism","tag-antisemitism","tag-antizionism","tag-arrest","tag-canada","tag-diaspora","tag-pro-palestinian-protests","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}