Jewish participants in Montreal pride parade hit with urine balloons

Initially, Fierté (Pride) Montreal stated its intention to ban two Jewish groups from participating.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Members of Jewish groups who participated in a Montreal pride parade after a ban on them was reversed were assaulted with balloons filled with urine.

Initially, Fierté (Pride) Montreal stated its intention to ban two Jewish groups from participating, citing its “zero-tolerance policy for hate speech and incitement to violence,” apparently putting support for Israel in that category.

However, the ban was later reversed, allowing two Jewish groups — Ga’ava, Canada’s largest Jewish LGBT+ organization, and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), the biggest representative body of Canadian Jewry — to participate.

Allowing the Jewish members to participate, however, did not protect them from an assault in the form of being pelted with balloons containing a foul-smelling liquid.

One of the participants, who called himself Adam, told the Montreal Gazette that a woman threw liquid at him that “smelled like urine.”

“While my back was turned, I felt something hit me on my left side that was wet,” he said.

Although Adam initially thought the liquid was water, “suddenly the smell hit.”

“I turned around and I saw that the SPVM [Montreal police] and one of our security guards had the person on the ground.”

He also said he saw two other people being hit with the offensive balloons.

Montreal police arrested a 35-year-old woman for armed assault after she threw the balloons.

In April, NYC Dyke March, a public demonstration in New York City held by members of the lesbian community, banned self-proclaimed “Zionists” from its annual event, stating that the reason was opposition to alleged “genocide” occurring in Gaza.

After receiving complaints from members, the NYC Dyke March committee agreed to adopt “an explicitly anti-Zionist position” to “strengthen our commitment” to fighting against Israel and advocating on behalf of Palestinians.