Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was confronted Tuesday evening at a Vancouver restaurant by pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
CityNews reports:
Videos posted online show Trudeau sitting at a table at a restaurant called Vij’s when demonstrators arrive and begin chanting.
Demonstrators yelled, “Ceasefire now,” and told Trudeau he had blood on his hands as he said goodbye to people in the restaurant and made his way out.
Videos posted from later in the evening show a group of around 250 demonstrators gathered outside of Bagheera, a speakeasy cocktail bar in Chinatown, with signs in hand continuing, “Ceasefire now” chants.
Vancouver Police Sgt. Steve Addison told CityNews in a statement that roughly 100 officers were “deployed last night after protesters surrounded a restaurant in Chinatown just before 10 p.m.”
“The Prime Minister was inside the restaurant at the time, and our officers assisted in controlling the crowd so he could leave,” Addison added.
Two people were taken into police custody during the protest, the law enforcement officer noted.
Trudeau made headlines this week for issuing sharp criticism of Israel’s military operations against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, in which he demanded the Jewish state halt “this killing of women, of children, of babies.”
Trudeau urged Israel to “exercise maximum restraint” while fighting against Hamas in the strip, warning that “the world is watching.”
Trudeau’s comments were met with rebuke from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who wrote on social media: “[I]t is not Israel that is deliberately targeting civilians but Hamas that beheaded, burned and massacred civilians in the worst horrors perpetrated on Jews since the Holocaust.”
“While Israel is doing everything to keep civilians out of harm’s way, Hamas is doing everything to keep them in harm’s way,” Netanyahu continued. “Israel provides civilians in Gaza humanitarian corridors and safe zones, Hamas prevents them from leaving at gunpoint.”
The Israeli leader added. “It is Hamas not Israel that should be held accountable for committing a double war crime – targeting civilians while hiding behind civilians.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.