Councillor pleads for OPP assist as protest shuts down Hwy. 401 overpass

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A professional-Palestine protest and a pro-Israel counterprotest shut down a Hwy. 401 overpass on Sunday with a Toronto metropolis councillor urging the OPP to work with Toronto Police to discourage such disruptions.

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The competing rallies, which included protesters waving flags and setting off flares, led to the closure of a bit of Avenue Rd. and the close by Hwy. 401 on- and off-ramps.

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At 5:40 p.m., Toronto Police mentioned that the demonstrators had been dispersed and all roads had been reopened.

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The protest was the newest disruption in public areas, on roadways and in purchasing centres throughout the GTA, prompting Councillor James Pasternak to “strongly” urge the OPP to assist Toronto Police “hold the general public secure and forestall any state of affairs that would lead to catastrophic accidents on Canada’s busiest freeway.

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“To distract drivers on a serious freeway poses dangers for everybody utilizing the freeway,” Pasternak mentioned in a press release posted on his social media accounts. “We’re a metropolis based on respect, tolerance and the rule of regulation. Individuals come right here to flee hate and violence from world battle zones. The overwhelming majority of residents of Toronto don’t need them recreated right here.

“We urge the organizers to cancel their protests so that everybody stays secure.”

Pasternak mentioned the protests — one among which at Eaton Centre final week noticed a protester in entrance of police inform one other person who he would put them “six toes deep”  — have made folks really feel unsafe and stretched police sources to the “restrict,” Pasternak mentioned.

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