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Al-Quds rally can go forward, judge rules, after denying Ontario's request for injunction
A Toronto anti-Israel demonstration can go ahead on Saturday as planned.
An Ontario judge denied the provincial government’s attempt to obtain a court injunction to shut it down.
The dismissal of the request arrived less than an hour before the Al-Quds Day rally in downtown Toronto was scheduled to begin. Similar rallies are planned for other Canadian cities.
Ontario’s lawyers were grilled during the Saturday afternoon hearing as they argued the protest was a forum for antisemitism and should be shut down given heightened tensions that have arisen around the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran and recent shoot-ups of three Toronto synagogues and the U.S. Consulate.
On Friday Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that he had instructed the provincial Attorney General to seek a court injunction against the Al-Quds Day rally.
“This afternoon, I’ve instructed my Attorney General to pursue an injunction against the Al-Quds Day demonstration planned for Toronto,” he wrote in an X post on Friday. “Hate, violence and intimidation have no place on the streets of Canada and our government will fight it however we can.”
This afternoon, I’ve instructed my Attorney General to pursue an injunction against the Al-Quds Day demonstration planned for Toronto.Hate, violence and intimidation have no place on the streets of Canada and our government will fight it however we can. pic.twitter.com/5QbvxxpxOg
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) March 13, 2026
Organizers have promoted the event as a call against against war on Iran and Lebanon and contended the injunction was an attempt to silence anti-Israel advocacy and criticism of Israel. A lawyer for the organizers noted during the injunction hearing that they have coordinated the event with police, adding there is no evidence of charges against demonstrators during past Al-Quds rallies.
Police say they are going to expand their presence at the rally, citing heightened tensions in Toronto.
Al-Quds Day was established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini following the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Its stated goal is to express solidarity with Palestinians and opposition to Israel’s control of Jerusalem but the global events regularly feature calls for the destruction of Israel and the deaths of Israelis while expressing support for the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a terrorist group banned in Canada.
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