After months of lobbying from the Jewish community and escalating antisemitic violence, Toronto police are moving to restrict anti-Israel demonstrators from residential areas near Bathurst and Sheppard, the heart of the city’s Jewish community. Protests have occurred there regularly since not long after the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by Hamas. Three prominent Toronto-based Jewish groups had called for action after three synagogues were targeted by gunfire, and a March 14 incident at Bathurst and Sheppard where anti-Israel protesters held signs that dehumanized Jews and promoted hate-inciting antisemitic rhetoric. “Our community has consistently refused to accept the normalization of intimidation on residential streets in the heart of a heavily Jewish neighbourhood,” B’nai Brith Canada said Monday in a social media post lauding the police policy change. “The Toronto Police Service facilitates lawful demonstrations while balancing the rights of participants with the safety of the broader public,” she said.

Source: National Post March 23, 2026 22:08 UTC