ACanadian reporter for one of the northern nation’s only conservative media outfits was arrested Sunday and carted away for doing his job faithfully on public property.
Rebel News reporter David Menzies, who local and federal officials appear keen to shut up and lock away, confirmed to Blaze News that he was charged for alleged breach of the peace and trespassing for daring to pose questions to anti-Israel protesters outside Toronto City Hall.
Menzies indicated that he will be suing the Toronto Police Service over this incident just as he is suing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for a similarly rough arrest earlier this year.
Background
Thousands of people gathered outside Toronto City Hall on Sunday for “6 Months in Hell,” an event centered around demands for the release of those remaining Israeli captives who have suffered at the hands of Islamic terrorists since Hamas waged its unprovoked Oct. 7 attacks on the Jewish nation.
Footage of the event outside Toronto City Hall shows a peaceful crowd waving Canadian and Israeli flags at Nathan Phillips Square while various speakers take the stage, including Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Poilievre, the parliamentarian poised to steamroll Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the 2025 federal election, called on “friends of humanity — Jews, gentiles, people of all backgrounds, Canadians, all people of decency — to stand against the homicidal, genocidal death cult that is Hamas, a death cult that must be destroyed so that we can free the hostages and restore peace for all.”
Anti-Israel demonstrators flocked to the scene in an apparent effort to counter the anti-terrorist sentiment expressed by Poilievre and others.
Menzies told Blaze News he ventured over “as a journalist in the public square doing public service journalism … to find out why these people were there trying to crash this event.”
“Incredibly, there was a protest of a few dozen people — the pro-Hamas types — which was particularly gross because to me this was like crashing a funeral,” Menzies told Blaze News. “They’re spouting their rhetoric, which by the way includes calls for genocide like, ‘from the river to the sea,’ and ‘intifada.'”
Footage shows a number of the anti-Israel protesters crowding Menzies outside Toronto City Hall as he attempts to conduct impromptu interviews with his phone and microphone in hand. The mob presses the reporter up against a wall, shoving him with flag poles and sneaking in jabs. Other protesters can be seen attempting to block the view of Menzies’ cameraman with flags and placards.
Menzies indicated that police looked on as protesters not only assaulted him but illegally used amplifying devices to push their vitriol and drown out calls for the hostages’ releases.
A masked Toronto Police Service officer can finally be seen swooping in, grabbing Menzies, and separating him from the crowd.
Menzies tells the officer, “They can chant genocide in the street, and I can’t cover that? Obey your oath. Officer, obey your oath.”
The TPS officer can be seen grabbing Menzies’ wrist and tossing his camera onto the ground. Additional cops crew around as the officer handcuffs the reporter, then carts him away.
The arresting officer announces Menzies was “under arrest for refusing to leave [the] premises.”
“It’s a public place!” responds Menzies in an apparent state of disbelief. “This is literally the public square.”
The officer begins to explain his actions, but Menzies interrupts, noting, “They assaulted me and you did nothing.”
The police drag him over to a van, ostensibly banging Menzies’ head against the rear door before tossing him inside.
Read more at: theblaze.com