Montreal’s Jewish community breathed a sigh of relief after the arrest of a minor in connection with the May 5 attack on a 51-year-old man following the Israel rally downtown.
Posted 4:01pm Updated 5:25pm
Vincent Larin The Press
The Police Department of the Ville de Montréal (SPVM) confirmed Wednesday the arrest of a 15-year-old teenager last Thursday, who has since been released with a promise to appear.
This arrest was quickly hailed by the B’nai Brith organization, which stated that “it is absolutely unacceptable for anyone to be attacked on the streets of Montreal or anywhere else simply for expressing pride in Israel”.
Recall that B’nai Brith intervened last May to ask the SPVM to investigate this attack.
“B’nai Brith Canada and the Jewish community breathe a sigh of relief that the Montreal Police Department worked diligently to investigate this appalling incident and made an arrest,” said League of Human Rights National Director, B’nai Brith Person Marvin Rotrand. Wednesday, via press release.
slapped in the face
The attack took place on May 5 at around 1:15 p.m. on the corner of Sainte-Catherine Ouest and Wood Streets, after the Israel Rally Downtown. Exceptionally, given the likelihood that the two suspects are minors, the SPVM had published images and videos taken with mobile phones to identify them.
The victim, a man in his 50s holding an Israeli flag, had been ordered by the suspects to hand it over to them. Faced with the victim’s refusal, the suspects grabbed the item and rushed towards the man. One of them hit the victim in the head with a branch.
The SPVM also said that a citizen who wanted to help him was hit in the face several times.
Increase in hate crimes?
Although the motives for the attack are unknown, B’nai Brith believes it was an anti-Semitic act. The organization is concerned about a resurgence of this type of incident in the country over the past year.
According to one census, they went from 626 in 2020 to 828 in 2021, an increase of 20.7%. Violent incidents against Jews “exploded” from 5 in 2020 to 36 in 2021, according to B’nai Brith.
“These are unacceptable numbers,” says Marvin Rotrand. The Jewish community wants the province, city and police to allocate the necessary resources to ensure the explosion of anti-Semitic incidents is not repeated in 2021.”