A police officer was punched in the face and had her eyes gouged by a pro-Palestine supporter outside a restaurant that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was dining in.
Police reportedly arrested a 27-year-old man from Coquitlam, BC, after the assault sent the officer to the hospital.
Another man, 34, was also arrested for obstructing police but was later released.
100 police officers were called in to provide protection to Trudeau, as a large crowd was outside the restaurant calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Earlier in the night, video surfaced of Trudeau being heckled out of a different restaurant by an individual who was demanding he call for a ceasefire.
On Tuesday, the Canadian PM inched closer to calling on Israel to ceasefire in its continued counter-attack on Hamas-controlled Gaza, in response to Hamas’s barbaric October 7 attack.
Trudeau’s messaging has shifted slightly, having previously stated that Israel has a right to defend itself.
“The human tragedy that is unfolding in Gaza is heart-wrenching, especially the suffering we see in and around the Al-Shifa hospital. I have been clear that the price of justice cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians. Even wars have rules,” Trudeau said on Tuesday.
Netanyahu slams Trudeau
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu subsequently lashed out directly at Trudeau for his comments.
Netanyahu posted a lengthy message to the Canadian Prime Minister on Tuesday, just hours after Trudeau called on the Israeli government to exercise “maximum restraint” amid their counter-attack on Hamas-controlled Gaza.
“@JustinTrudeau, It is not Israel that is deliberately targeting civilians but Hamas that beheaded, burned and massacred civilians in the worst horrors perpetrated on Jews since the Holocaust,” Netanyahu said.
“While Israel is doing everything to keep civilians out of harm’s way, Hamas is doing everything to keep them in harm’s way,” he added.
