Police in Vancouver say more officers will be deployed at what they call 91Ƶstrategic locations91Ƶ including faith-based schools and places of worship leading up to Monday91Ƶs one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel.
Vancouver Police Chief Const. Adam Palmer says planned and unplanned protests across the city are posing a 91Ƶsignificant91Ƶ risk of disorder, and officers trained specifically for large-scale events will be deployed.
In addition, Palmer says tactical response and uniformed officers will be placed at 91Ƶkey locations91Ƶ in consultation with leaders of both the Jewish and Muslim communities.
He says uniformed school liaison officers will be highly visible during student pickup and drop-off at faith-based schools on Monday, while a VPD Mobile Command Centre has been posted outside the Jewish Community Centre at Oak Street and West 41st Avenue.
The Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel killed 1,200 people and saw 250 abducted, triggering an Israeli counteroffensive in Gaza that the health ministry there says has left more than 41,000 dead.
Among the groups planning rallies and events over the weekend and on Monday is pro-Palestinian group Samidoun, which is promoting its events on social media by referring to the Oct. 7 attacks as 91ƵAl-Aqsa Flood,91Ƶ the Hamas code name for the operation.
The 91Ƶweek of action91Ƶ includes what Samidoun calls a 91Ƶteach-in91Ƶ about the operation and a rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Monday, as well as attending an Oct. 8 court appearance the group says will be made by Samidoun organizer Charlotte Kates.
Vancouver police say there have been 344 protests in the city related to the Israel-Hamas war, amounting to more than 3,000 overtime shifts by police and costing $4.1 million in policing.
91ƵIn the first 100 days following the Oct. 7 attacks, we saw a 62 per cent increase in reports of antisemitism,91Ƶ Palmer said at a briefing.
91ƵMembers of our Muslim and West Asian communities are also hurting,91Ƶ he added. 91ƵFor some, their sense of safety and belonging has been impacted by Islamophobia, things like hateful encounters with strangers and hurtful graffiti written on walls of schools and community centres.91Ƶ
Palmer says policing protests related to the Israeli-Hamas war was one of the main cost pressures that would put the VPD around $6 million over budget by the end of the year. That is equivalent to about 1.5 per cent of the entire police budget.
He says police have proactively reached out to protest groups and organizers, and the responses have been mostly 91Ƶ but 91Ƶnot always91Ƶ 91Ƶ co-operative.
91ƵWe will facilitate that, when people have lawful protests,91Ƶ Palmer says. 91ƵBut what we will not put up with is violence or hatred or crimes against other people. There91Ƶs no criminality, no violence, no unlawfulness allowed. So that91Ƶs where we draw the line.91Ƶ
Samidoun director Kates was arrested last year in a hate-crime investigation after praising the Oct. 7 attack as 91Ƶheroic and brave91Ƶ in a speech at a rally.
The BC Civil Liberties Association wrote to the VPD in June to express concern about her arrest.