Additional charges laid in hate-motivated mischief investigation at Yorkville Indigo bookstore

Toronto police have laid additional charges against 11 people in connection with a hate-motivated mischief investigation at a downtown Indigo bookstore.

Toronto police have laid additional charges against 11 people in connection with a hate-motivated mischief investigation at a downtown Indigo bookstore.

Police said the accused were charged with criminal harassment on Thursday after they allegedly “engaged in threatening conduct that caused a person to reasonable fear for their personal safety.”

One of the 11 is also facing an additional charge of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, police said.

Last week, the accused were arrested and charged with mischief over $5,000 after they allegedly glued posters to the doors and windows of the Indigo store on Bay Street and splashed red paint.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center called the incident “a vile antisemitic attack.” However, other groups, like the Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), have pointed out that the bookstore has been the subject of boycott campaigns for years not because its founder is Jewish but due to her HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers, which offers scholarships to people without family in Israel who nevertheless serve in the Israeli military.

They have called for the charges to be dropped, including “Jews Say No to Genocide Coalition,” which held a demonstration outside of the bookstore on Thursday condemning the actions of Toronto police.