On Wednesday, September 24, 2025, Toronto police arrested a legal observer at a Palestine protest at Toronto Metropolitan University. This arrest was an unprecedented attack on movement defence infrastructure in Toronto.
At the demonstration, some officers present from 51 Division had obscured or removed their names and badge numbers, information that is typically visible to the public as part of their uniforms. A legal observer making the rounds asked an officer for his badge number. This is a routine question that police are legally required to answer under section 13(2) of the Code of Conduct for Police Officers, O Reg 407/23. In response to the question, the officer threatened them with arrest.
When the legal observer began reading out the relevant law, police carried through with their threat. In the hours that followed, officers at 51 Division colluded to manufacture a justification for this person’s arrest.
To cover up the fact that the arrest was retaliation, police charged the arrestee with “obstructing a peace officer” and “criminal harassment.” “Criminal harassment” is a charge that is typically synonymous with “stalking.”
To silence the arrestee, police pressured them into agreeing to follow a series of draconian conditions in order to be released. Those conditions included terms: not to be within 5 metres of any uniformed TPS officer and not to record or photograph TPS officers on duty.
To punish the arrestee for daring to assert their legal rights, TPS then continued to hold them in custody for several more hours after all of their paperwork was complete.
Through this arrest, TPS is sending us all a clear message: the police don’t care about the law. All that matters to TPS is their freedom to attack our communities with impunity.
The Orange Hats, previously a part of the Movement Defence Committee, have been watching TPS for 15 years. That work will continue no matter how the police may retaliate. We are in full support and solidarity with this member of our organization.
We will not allow TPS to hide from accountability by arresting its critics.
