What to know
- Pro-Palestinian protesters organized coordinated actions at Indigo stores across Canada, including a mass book-return demonstration.
- The protest tactic drew mixed reactions online.
- Organizers say the goal was to disrupt store operations during one of Indigo’s busiest shopping weekends, while critics raised concerns.
Pro-Palestinian protestors lined up at Indigo’s flagship location at Toronto’s Eaton Centre Saturday to return books en masse, prompting reactions online.
The demonstration was one of over 30 protest actions taken yesterday against the retailer across the country. It was organized by Boycott Indigo Books, a movement that calls for the boycott of Indigo citing its Founder and CEO Heather Reisman’s role in supporting the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) through her HESEG Foundation.
The novel protest method is garnering online attention
Some people praise its creativity while others question its futility.
“As much as I stay the hell out of all these protests, I gotta say, that’s pretty creative!” a Reddit user wrote.
“Much better protest than the graffiti this morning at the Bay/Bloor location. Putting your money where your mouth is (or the opposite in this case) is principled and can be very effective,” another echoed.
An X user who says she participated in Saturday’s protest says, “I’m not sure we actually clogged up the line since Indigo had about 1,000 cashiers working.”
“Easy to limit this – make one cash register a dedicated return line,” another X user wrote.
There were others who lamented the lack of alternative book stores available to Canadian readers.
“I get the issue with Reisman and I respect the right to protest, but Indigo is the only Canadian book chain we have that competes with Amazon. If we all bought our books on Amazon instead of Indigo, and Indigo goes under just like Hudson’s Bay did this year, would Canada really be better off?” a Reddit user wrote.
“Really, what is the point of this. The books would be subject to Indigo’s standard return policy. Receipt required, unread condition. So buy a book. Return a book. Zero effect on profit. If the idea was to cause lines, everywhere pretty much has lines,” another said.
Beyond the dollar spent, dollar returned
Gur Tsabar, Movement Media Hub CEO and spokesperson for Saturday’s action, says the protest goes beyond the dollar spent and returned.
The inspiration? A series of similar demonstrations across Home Depot locations in the U.S.
Anti-ICE protests at a Home Depot store in California took the form of long lines of customers buying a 17-cent ice scraper. https://t.co/VCFdpPZ1PK
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) November 24, 2025
“The purpose of the action is to clog the line. The clogged line then makes it very unattractive for other customers because they were crazy long – over an hour,” Tsabar tells Now Toronto.
According to Tsabar, Saturday’s action was strategically scheduled for the busiest day of the year for the retailer.
“And we knew exactly what time of the day would be busiest, and we clogged the lines and clogged the staff,” Tsabar says, adding, “You are fundamentally looking to disrupt the operations and the profits.”
Customer at Indigo’s Eaton Centre location returns a book as part of the protest action, Dec. 20, 2025 (Courtesy: Boycott Indigo Books)
The weekend before Christmas is typically one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year as shoppers hustle to dot the I’s and cross the T’s on their holiday gifts.
Indigo protest prompts concerns from critics
Josh Landau, Ontario director of government relations at The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, says such disruptions to Indigo’s operations are concerning.
“All Canadians should be concerned about the harassment and intimidation of holiday shoppers and hardworking staff by extremists calling for violence against Jews,” Landau tells Now Toronto.
Tsabar, however, defends the action, “Everybody [participating in the protest] was an Indigo customer. They purchased books, and they have the right to return those books.”
Now Toronto reached out to Indigo Books & Music Inc. and HESEG Foundation but did not hear back by deadline.