Toronto police increase presence along hospital row after pro-Palestinian protest

Toronto police say they are increasing their presence along hospital row after a pro-Palestinian protest downtown on Monday night, including outside Mount Sinai Hospital.

Toronto Police Service spokesperson Stephanie Sayer told CBC News the increased police presence is to ensure that essential hospital services and emergency routes remain accessible.

"Interfering with the operations of a hospital is not acceptable," Sayer wrote in an email.

Police have not said if the hospital's operations were impacted by the protest. The hospital has not responded to CBC News's request for comment.

"The Toronto Police Service is investigating several incidents that occurred in front of Mount Sinai Hospital and along the demonstration route. As we have said before, officers use their discretion during large crowd demonstrations and even if arrests are not deemed safe to make at the time, investigations will continue and charges can be laid at a later date," Sayer said.

In videos posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, apparently from the time of the protest, a person can be seen climbing an awning that's branded Mount Sinai Hospital while waving a Palestinian flag.

Another video shows scores of people along hospital row also calling for "intifada" while many of them waved Palestinian flags. Intifada is an Arabic word to describe more than one Palestinian uprising over the decades.

Trudeau condemns 'display of antisemitism'

The protest action was denounced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.

"The demonstration at Mount Sinai Hospital yesterday was reprehensible. Hospitals are places for treatment and care, not protests and intimidation," Trudeau wrote on X.

"I strongly condemn this display of antisemitism. In Toronto and across Canada, we stand with Jewish communities against this hate."

At a news conference in Mississauga on Tuesday, Ford described the action as "absolutely terrible."

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"Folks, get some decency, have common sense. These hospitals are there to save lives … they're there to help people. Do not, do not break the law," Ford said.

He said the federal government has passed a law that people cannot protest in front of hospitals, adding that even without the law, "you have to have an ounce of decency no to do this. I don't care what you're protesting … if you want to protest, go to city hall, come down to Queen's Park, jump up and down, do whatever you want but don't prohibit people going into a hospital when they are in there saving people's lives."

Meanwhile, Chow said the actions at the hospital, "founded by Toronto's Jewish community, were unacceptable.

"Targeting Jewish institutions is antisemitic and hate has no place in our city," Chow said.

Emergency department physician Raghu Venugopal says he and another colleague went to the hospital to witness and counter-protest any kind of protest in front of a hospital. (Raghu Venugopal/X)

Emergency department physician Raghu Venugopal, in a post on X, described the group's action as "disappointing," adding that he and another colleague went to the hospital to witness and counter-protest any kind of protest in front of a hospital.

"It's a disappointing evening in front of Mount Sinai Hospital, a Jewish-identified hospital in Toronto. Protesters have been on these hallowed and sacred hospital grounds to protest," Venugopal said in the post.

"Protesting in Canada is everyone's right but according to laws of our land in Canada, you cannot protest in such a way to impede or intimidate access of health-care workers or patients at a hospital. This is federal Bill C-3, which has been passed into law."

Police are appealing to anyone who witnessed the events Monday night or who experienced harassment to contact them.