The hate crimes unit of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) has launched an investigation into a series of coordinated, targeted incidents against Hasidic Jewish residents in the Outremont and Mile-End areas on Friday evening, according to CityNews Montreal.
Details provided by the Council of Hasidic Jews of Quebec (CJHQ) indicate that multiple worshipers returning from synagogue following Shabbat services faced aggressive harassment from occupants of a vehicle cruising through the local streets.
“Victims were yelled at, subjected to antisemitic slurs, spat at, and had objects thrown at them," the organization said in a statement posted on Facebook.
The CJHQ revealed that several victims had their traditional fur hats - known as shtreimels - snatched or struck off their heads during the altercations. Among those targeted was a mobility-impaired individual using a wheelchair.
Security camera footage released by the organization captures a motor vehicle stopping along a curb before an occupant steps out, approaches a pedestrian from behind on the sidewalk, attempts to tear the man's shtreimel away while taunting him, and flees back to the waiting vehicle as it speeds off.
Strongly condemning the assault, the CJHQ emphasized, “This was not a prank or a random act of mischief."
The series of attacks has drawn sharp condemnation across the political spectrum and from civic rights organizations. Outremont Mayor Caroline Braun characterized the actions as unacceptable, reflecting on recent local trends.
“For several months now, I have observed a disturbing rise in antisemitism in Montreal and Outremont," Braun wrote on Facebook. “We have seen the emergence of hateful graffiti, acts of intimidation, violence, and hate speech that have no place in our city. This must stop."
In response to the hostility, United Against Hate Canada issued an urgent plea for local authorities to bolster the SPVM’s specialized hate crimes division and requested direct oversight collaboration from the Public Security Commission.
“There needs to be rapid arrests for this latest manifestation of hate and the heaviest instruments in the Criminal Code need to be used against those arrested," said Marvin Rotrand, director general of United Against Hate Canada, as quoted by CityNews.
Rotrand's organization further called on Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada to institute a dedicated municipal task force aimed at countering antisemitism.
Meanwhile, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) characterized the events as “a horrific act of Jew hatred in Montreal… A month after the prime minister’s address, Canada’s antisemitism crisis continues as attacks targeting visibly Jewish Canadians spread across the country. Here’s what happens when antisemitism is normalized: A gratuitous, cowardly, and hateful attack against Hasidic Jews was carried out on Friday evening."
The incidents came amid a sharp increase in acts of antisemitism in Canada in general and in Montreal in particular.
One synagogue in the city, Congregation Beth Tikvah, was firebombed twice within a year.
In November of 2024, a man described as Arab entered a Jewish-owned business in Montreal and threatened to kill the business's owners as he went on an expletive-laden tirade against Jews and Israel.
That incident took place days after violent rioting broke out in Montreal during a pro-Palestinian Arab demonstration, in which demonstrators set fire to an effigy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then threw firecrackers at the police, smashed the windows of stores, and set fire to several vehicles.
In July of 2024, a Jewish cemetery in the city was vandalized, with the vandals arranging stones over the graves into the shape of a swastika.
This past November, the words “Kill all Jews" along with “Allahu Akbar" were found scrawled on the wall of a bathroom on the Concordia University campus.
In March, a kosher restaurant and a neighboring business in Montreal were vandalized.