'This is Canada, not Gaza': Cops drag away conservative reporter for supposedly 'trespassing' in Toronto's public square



A Canadian 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.

Rebel News subsequently indicated that Menzies suffered a cut on his head from when the officers "roughly threw David into the back of a police truck, knocking his head against the roof. They also tightly forced his shoulders back, deeply aggravating a previous injury."

Menzies told Blaze News that "in the department of perverse irony," he was ultimately held at TPS 52 Division, one block away from the Art Gallery of Ontario where "pro-Hamas" protesters shut down a reception between Trudeau and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The reporter found some dark humor in the notion that whereas he sat in holding for asking questions on public property, the radicals "got away with shutting that down."

BREAKING: David Menzies has been arrested for reporting on the anti-Israel counter protest against the rally for the remaining hostages detained by Hamas on October 7th. \n\nhttps://t.co/VGU2262Brn to help his legal fight. Updates to follow.
— (@)

When speaking to Menzies hours after his release, Ezra Levant, the publisher of Rebel News, surmised the police had gone after the reporter because it would have alternatively required more effort to deal with the actual aggressors.

"They took the coward's way out, which is, 'If we try and arrest this mob of Hamas hate marchers, they're going to get handsy with us. But we know Menzies won't, so let's take him out,'" said Levant.

Menzies told Blaze News, "Bottom line, right now in Toronto — and I would argue in other cities around the world, Western democracies — law enforcement is now about, not enforcing the law, but keeping the peace. Keeping the peace means bending the knee to the violent mob. 'If keeping the peace means arresting an independent journalist for potentially asking insensitive questions to the mob, then so be it.'"

The Canadian reporter suggested that this style of policing is prompting the mob to become "more and more emboldened," noting that among the anti-Israel radicals proudly demonstrating Sunday was a woman who allegedly speared a police horse last month but was evidently spared jail time.

Levant suggested that the TPS has a "personal vendetta" against Menzies.

After all, Menzies has repeatedly been targeted for abuse while working for Rebel News, one of the few media outfits in Canada that does not receive funding from the Trudeau government.

He was allegedly assaulted by Trudeau's bodyguards in 2021; roughed up by an RCMP officer, then carted away by York Regional Police after asking Trudeau's deputy minister questions in January; and arrested by Toronto Police officers last month for asking questions of pro-Palestinian protesters nearby an event featuring Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

How bad is it in Canada?\n\nRebel News reporter David Menzies (@TheMenzoid) was "arrested for assault" for asking Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland questions.\n\nYou can clearly see David did not "assault" Freeland. It's arguable that never even made physical contact.\n\nWorse yet, Justin\u2026
— (@)

Blaze News previously reported that the apparent antipathy for the conservative outlet is shared by more than just city officials. Trudeau and his Liberal Party have denied Rebel News accreditation to cover political debates; accused its reporters of spreading vaccine misinformation; and suggested it was increasing polarization in the country amid draconian COVID lockdowns.

"That's Toronto police showing total cowardice towards actual criminal gangs but abusing and punishing a peaceful journalist," wrote the publisher. "I'm sick of it. We're going to defend against the bogus charges today. But when those charges are thrown out, we're not done."

When vowing to sue the Toronto Police, Levant indicated his aim would be "to teach them that they just aren't allowed to beat up Canadian journalists. This is Canada, not Gaza."

Menzies indicated they also filed a lawsuit last month over the Freeland incident, which they will use as the "template" for two suits against the TPS, one for the incident last month and another for the arrest Sunday.

Blaze News reached out to the Toronto Police Service and Pierre Poilievre for comment but did not receive replies by deadline.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

BREAKING: David Menzies Released From Jail | Police Smashed His Headyoutu.be

WATCH: Canadian journalist ARRESTED for assault despite not touching a single person



Canada tends to lead the charge when it comes to woke nonsense. Apparently, the country deems asking questions a form of assault, even when the person making the inquiries is a reporter.

Last week, Rebel News reporter David Menzies was arrested by an RCMP officer after he attempted to ask Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland questions regarding why Canada has opted to omit the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from its terrorist list.

“She could’ve ignored them, but instead, a bunch of her bodyguards jumped him and charged him with assault,” Rebel News founder Ezra Levant tells Alex Stein.

In the video footage, one can clearly see Menzies approaching Freeland with a microphone. However, he never touches her or even blocks her path. Menzies manages to ask two questions, both of which go unanswered, before a group of officers forcefully grab him and push him against the wall claiming he’s under arrest for assault.

“How am I under arrest? You bumped into me,” Menzies said to one officer as handcuffs were placed on his wrists.

“You pushed into me, sir,” the officer responded — a textbook example of gaslighting.

“He never touched her!” says Alex in disbelief. “Is verbal assault a charge?”

“In the end, they dropped the charge,” says Levant. However, “the weirdest part is [the cops] drive away but they don't take him to the police station; they just dump him off in some school parking lot and say find your own way back.”

"I was a super pro-back the blue guy," but after "what I've seen...they are testing my pro-cop ideology," he sighs.

Clearly, many share Levant's sentiments, as the video has now garnered several million views. Check it out for yourself below.


Want more from Alex Stein?

To enjoy more of Alex's culture jamming, comedic monologues, skits, and street segments, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Police arrest reporter after he asked Trudeau's deputy about the Canadian regime's failure to call out terrorism



Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down a Ukrainian commercial airliner on Jan. 8, 2020, killing 176 people, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents. On the anniversary of the fatal attack Monday, a Canadian reporter dared to ask Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's second-in-command why the Liberal government has so far failed to designate the IRGC a terrorist organization.

Instead of an answer, the reporter received handcuffs.

David Menzies is a reporter with Rebel News, one of the few media outfits in Canada that does not receive funding from the Trudeau government. Trudeau and his Liberal Party have long been antagonistic toward Rebel News, denying the outfit accreditation to cover political debates; accusing its reporters of spreading vaccine misinformation; and suggesting it was increasing polarization in the country amidst draconian COVID lockdowns.

Unfazed by his alleged assault by Trudeau's bodyguards in 2021, Menzies peacefully approached Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland in a Toronto suburb Monday and asked the former journalist, "Ms. Freeland, how come the IRGC is not a terrorist group?"

Freeland, unaccustomed to a confrontational media, refused to respond and kept walking. However, Menzies kept pace with the Liberal parliamentarian, asking, "Why is your government supporting Islamo-nationalism?"

Menzies found himself having to circumnavigate a metal post but was confronted on the other side by another obstacle: a federal RCMP officer. Without identifying himself as a law enforcement official, the plainclothes officer prevented Menzies' progress down the public sidewalk.

Menzies responded to his brutal treatment off-camera, saying, "Excuse me, what are you doing?"

The RCMP officer can be seen in footage of the incident gripping the reporter, then slamming him against a bus-stop billboard.

"You're under arrest for assault," says the officer, as he roughs up the reporter and puts Menzies' hands behind his back.

Freeland, smiling, walks away

"How am I under arrest?" asks a bewildered Menzies. "You bumped into me. You bumped — I was just scrumming. I've got my credentials here and you just bumped into me."

The reporter asked for the officer's name and badge number, but the RCMP officer refused to answer. Instead, the officer told him, "You're under arrest for assaulting a police officer."

As multiple York Regional Police officers were later carting away the nonviolent reporter, Menzies told his cameraman, "Welcome to blackface's Canada," alluding to Trudeau's apparent affinity for dressing up in blackface on numerous occasions. "This is what they do to journalists. I was merely scrumming minister Freeland and a RCMP officer blocked me. And, evidently, this is now a trumped-up charge of assault, folks."

Days earlier, Toronto police took a different approach to anti-Israeli extremists who were blockading a Jewish facility. Rather than roughing them up, police officers ferried over coffees for the blockaders.

"I didn't come here to cause any trouble. I came here to do my job. And now I'm handcuffed," Menzies said on his way to the back of a police cruiser. "Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is not a terrorist organization? Is not a terrorist organization?! And these Liberals have the audacity to show up at a vigil for a plane in which almost 200 people were killed. 57 Canadians, one unborn child, by the way."

— (@)

Andrew Lawton, president of the not-for-profit Independent Press Gallery of Canada, said in a statement, "Police are there to uphold the law and public safety, not to prevent politicians from being asked questions by journalists who the government will not permit to ask questions in official settings."

"The Independent Press Gallery calls on police, particularly those tasked with protecting elected officials, to cease the practice of arresting working journalists who are not posing a threat to public safety or breaking the law," added Lawton.

Lawton later confirmed that Menzies was ultimately released without charges.

Ezra Levant, the publisher of Rebel New, vowed to sue the RCMP, Freeland, and the York Regional Police on Menzies' behalf for false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, and assault.

Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party now poised to unseat Trudeau in the next federal election, wrote, "This is the state of freedom of the press. In Canada. In 2024. After 8 years of Trudeau."

Jay Bhattacharya, professor at the Stanford School of Medicine and co-author of the "Great Barrington Declaration," noted on X, "Freeland and Trudeau froze the bank accounts of protestors, threw pastors in jail for holding church, and violated the basic civil rights of unvaccinated Canadians. Now, her police gin up excuses to arrest journalists they don't like. This Canadian government is a disgrace."

Bhattacharya failed to mention how the Trudeau government also discussed possibly using German-made Leopard 2 tanks, designed to engage Russian heavy armor in battle, against the peaceful trucker protesters.

While unwilling to recognize those responsible for the downing of Flight PS752 as terrorists — as the U.S. has since April 15, 2019 — Trudeau nevertheless turned up Monday at the vigil for their victims, reported the National Post.

Trudeau floated the idea of a terrorist designation, but did not commit, saying, "We know there is more to do to hold the regime to account and we will continue our work, including continuing to look for ways to responsibly list the IRGC as a terrorist organization."

According to the U.S. State Department, the IRGC "has been directly involved in terrorist plotting; its support for terrorism is foundational and institutional, and it has killed U.S. citizens. It is also responsible for taking hostages and wrongfully detaining numerous U.S. persons, several of whom remain in captivity in Iran today."

In addition to plotting a foiled terrorist attack on American soil in 2011, the IRGC was found liable for the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, which killed 19 Americans.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!