A Toronto man has been arrested in reference to a number of hate-motivated assaults all through town, in response to police — together with a Saturday morning assault on worshippers outdoors a mosque.
At about 6:40 a.m. ET, police responded to stories of an assault with a weapon outdoors the Toronto Islamic Centre close to Yonge Road and Davenport Street. Officers stated in a information launch that a person allegedly confronted a number of folks, threw a rock at them and yelled slurs, then attacked them with a motorcycle chain. One individual is believed to have sustained minor accidents.
This follows two different incidents police stated passed off earlier this week.
Police stated a cab driver approached a person close to Entrance Road and Yonge Road to ask whether or not they wanted a journey early Wednesday morning. The person requested the motive force if he was Muslim and sprayed him within the face with an unknown substance, police say.
Later that very same morning, police say a lady carrying a hijab close to Fort York Boulevard and Spadina Avenue was approached by a person who made derogatory statements towards her, then sprayed her within the face with an unknown substance. The girl was taken to hospital and handled for minor accidents.
Featured VideoWorshippers at a Toronto mosque chased down an attacker and restrained him early Saturday morning. It’s the newest in a string of hate-motivated assaults which have Muslim and Jewish communities on edge.
Police have laid costs in opposition to a 28-year-old man in reference to the incidents, together with 4 counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of assault and two counts carrying a hid weapon. The person is scheduled to seem in courtroom on Monday.
‘Sufficient is sufficient,’ says nationwide Muslim group
In a press release launched Saturday, the Toronto Islamic Centre known as for an finish to intimidation and harassment.
“Whereas our first precedence is to make sure the continuing security of worshippers, we have to see long-term change to struggle all types of hate, together with Islamophobia,” the assertion learn.
Those that had been on the mosque on the time of the assault are shaken up however everyone seems to be all proper, Nationwide Council of Muslim Canadians director of communications Uthman Fast advised reporters Saturday evening.
“What we see in our metropolis proper now’s completely unacceptable,” Fast stated. “Whether or not it’s antisemitism, whether or not it’s anti-Palestinian racism, whether or not it’s Islamophobia — sufficient is sufficient.”
In a publish concerning the assault on X, previously Twitter, Mayor Olivia Chow stated Islamophobia and violence are unacceptable.