A Toronto event in which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was scheduled to host the Italian prime minister was canceled Saturday night over safety concerns after hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside the venue, a spokesperson for the prime minister’s office said. announced.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office said neither he nor Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were able to enter the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), which was blocked off by protests.
Demonstrators criticized the federal government’s response to the Israel-Hamas war and shouted that Trudeau was funding the Gaza massacre.
Police told CBC News that there were approximately 200 to 300 demonstrators outside the AGO on Saturday, but the total size of the demonstration was difficult because demonstrators were gathered outside multiple entrances. He pointed out that it is difficult to estimate.
“Due to safety concerns, the event has been canceled,” a PMO spokesperson told CBC News via email Saturday night.
Those wishing to participate had gathered outside and were confronted by demonstrators, who blocked the entrance route. Some were then taken to the entrance of the building by police.
International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen tried to enter through the front door, but demonstrators blocked his path and chased Hussen for two blocks, flanked by police, as he tried to get into a safer area.
One demonstrator told him: “You are complicit in genocide. Your hands are red. You are complicit in the murder of my family and friends.”
Meloni, who will serve as Italy’s prime minister from 2022, was in Toronto for talks with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The two G7 leaders discussed a wide range of topics, including what Meloni called the “very difficult Middle East crisis.”
Israel declared war on Hamas following an October 7 attack by Islamic extremists that killed 1,200 people and abducted about 250, according to an Israeli tally.
Israel’s subsequent military operation in Hamas-controlled Gaza has now left more than 30,000 people dead, most of them women and children, Gaza health officials say.
Canada, which considers Hamas a terrorist group, has repeatedly said Israel has the right to defend itself, while Ottawa has recently called for a ceasefire in the conflict as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens.
