A former New Brunswick cabinet minister says he was arrested by Toronto police and accused of disturbing the peace after chanting “Free Palestine - from Hamas” during a pro-Palestine protest.
Dominic Cardy was
elected as a Progressive Conservative MLA in 2018 and was the province’s minister of education and early childhood development until he resigned in 2022. He currently sits as an Independent.
In an Aug. 2
post on the X platform, he said he was arrested on the evening of Aug. 1 at a Toronto rally for chanting “Free Palestine - from Hamas” while “Hamas enthusiasts trampled an Israeli flag.”
“My parents taught me - don’t be a bystander. That’s never been more important than this week, with synagogues burning,” he said in the post.
Cardy said he went to the protest after hearing the ruckus.
“I woke from a nap to hear hundreds of Hamas enthusiasts upset at [Hamas leader Ismail] Haniyeh’s death on their way to block Younge+Dundas,” he
said in a subsequent post on X.
“I walked that way.”
Cardy
said he started chanting “Free Palestine - from Hamas,” and the crowd “reacted poorly.”
“I cannot abide that our leaders have allowed supporters of a banned terror cult to wear their symbols, to block streets, to frighten our Jewish neighbours,” he said in another
post.
The “negative attention” didn’t upset him, he said.
“In democracies, we have our voices & our bodies, and all expect both to be protected when we exercise our rights,” a follow-up social media post
said.
Cardy
said he was approached by a Toronto police officer who asked him to leave.
“I declined. He left. I called for a free Palestine - free from a group our government rightly condemn as terrorists,” he said.
Cardy said he was threatened multiple times and received “a good kick” from various protesters.
“The police returned and, when I made it clear I would not leave, I was arrested for “disturbing the peace”... the ‘peace’ of a crowd planning on burning the Israeli flag 1m away from me,” he
posted.
Toronto police confirmed to The Epoch Times in an email that Cardy was arrested for disturbing the peace.
“This individual was arrested yesterday at a demonstration for Breach of the Peace and was subsequently released without charges,” the Aug. 2 email said.
“He was engaging in confrontational behavior towards other demonstrators and failing to comply with police directives,” police said.
Cardy
said the police were “professional and courteous” and that his complaint was not with law enforcement but with politicians who allow the protests.
He also said that he refused to agree to terms that included avoiding future protests.
“After being booked I took a brief nap in the lockup I was released after a couple of hours, without charges or conditions,” he
wrote on social media.
“It’s always the right time to counter-protest extremists,” he
said in a final post. “Our streets. Our country. For democracy and the rule of law and an open society, not ceding control to thugs of whatever type. Enforce. Laws.”
