WARMINGTON: Double double standard for policing protests

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Move over Toronto Police riot, homicide or traffic squads and make room for the Coffee Squad.

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These coffee cops are getting all the headlines today.

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While Toronto Police have been known to bring riot cops to protests on mounted horses, on Saturday they were delivering Tim Hortons coffee to the very people who caused the demonstration to happen in the first place.

And donuts.

While they arrested and jailed anti-lockdown activist Adam Skelly for serving grub and not abiding to lockdown orders back in 2021, for pro-Hamas and pro-Palestinian protestors, police actually helped them enjoy a coffee break up on the Avenue Rd., and Hwy. 401 overpass.

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No wonder they can’t get them to leave. They are pouring sugar on the situation.

Talk about a double-double standard.

“It’s absurd,” said one Jewish Torontonian, who could not believe his eyes.

All of this came to light thanks to a video posted Saturday on X by Toronto lawyer and independent journalist Caryma S’ad.

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She tells me it’s not quite what it may look like.

“The police didn’t buy the coffee,” she said, explaining officers were delivering the coffee to protesters on the bridge who had been cut off from other demonstrators when police shut down the overpass.

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But with she and her excellent videographer spilling the beans on this diplomacy, one can’t help but stir the drink a little more and ask why?

“At the beginning of the demonstration, the bridge was closed,” Toronto Police Const. Shannon Eames said. “Some people had already gotten on to the bridge.

“One of the demonstrators, who was on the bridge, purchased coffee for his group of friends which got broken up,” she said, explaining why officers carried the coffee from one demonstrator to friends who had taken up positions on the bridge before it was closed off.

As they have done repeatedly since Christmas, police posted a message on X around 1:15 p.m., stating the overpass would be shut down “due to public safety concerns.”

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Offering further explanation later in the day, Const. Laurie McCann said the officers were “managing a dynamic situation.”

“Their top priority is maintaining order in a tense environment on the Avenue Road bridge,” she said. “In performing a helpful act today, our officers’ motivation was to help keep tensions low and should not be interpreted as showing support for any cause or group.

“Our officers continue to work to de-escalate these demonstrations and maintain calm and the public’s safety,” McCann added.

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You don’t have to be an expert to see the drip, drip, drip in this situation as many wonder why it is police have let so much go with pro-Palestinian protesters who have been vandalizing coffee shops and a whole lot of other things since the barbarism inflicted on innocent Israelis by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023.

Jewish Torontonians feel they have been burned.

“Absurd and comically naive,” B’nai Brith CEO Michael Mostyn said. “Welcome to 2024, where the City of Toronto’s latest political strategy appears to be the encouragement of further lawlessness, escalation and antisemitism, all with a friendly face.

“Are our brave police officers being encouraged to act as Uber Eats drivers by our political leaders?” he asked.

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“This is unacceptable,” Mostyn said. “Anti-Semitism is not a punchline, but today it was made into one by strategists who clearly have no comprehension of the damage they are doing to our country.”

Police should not be acting as baristas and persona valets for protesters but instead telling them all to get off the bridge and have their coffee and donut elsewhere instead of trying to intimidate the many Jewish residents who live in the area.

“This is a Jewish neighborhood that is being invaded by people who support the slaughter of Jews perpetrated by Hamas,” said Meir Weinstein, of Israel Now, who has been urging police to not allow protesters to continue to choke off the area and scare Jews.

“It would be like the KKK protesting in a Black neighborhood,” he said. “Black Residents would not be happy.”

No doubt they wouldn’t be pleased to see cops serving coffee to the KKK either.

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