Senior citizens in Toronto protesting against genocide targeted with harassment and intimidation
By Grahame Russell, July 25, 2025
On Monday, July 21, 2025, I joined a small group of senior citizens gathered between 3 and 4 pm on the corner of St. Clair Ave. W. and Avenue Rd. Most carried signs saying “Grandparents Against Genocide”. A couple of signs read “Great Aunts and Uncles Against Genocide.” I am a great uncle, and –at 64– one of the younger ones in the group.
July 21, 2025, Toronto, Canada
There were no noise makers, no loud speakers, no speeches, no interfering with pedestrians or blocking intersections, etc. The entire protest was as one sees in the photo.
Then two younger men came and aggressively confronted the group for 20 minutes or so. The intent of the perpetrators was clearly to silence the protest through harassment and intimidation. This included grabbing and ripping up signs, encroaching on personal space, and holding up mobile cameras in the faces of seniors while shouting in vulgar and aggressive language.
These short videos below speak for themselves.
These are the times we live in. That a small group of elders discreetly protesting Canadian, U.S. and Western-backed starvation and genocide of Palestinians are confronted this way.
Full accountability for U.S., Canadian and Western complicity with the abomination in Palestine
As we try to do with our work in Guatemala and Honduras, Rights Action encourages and supports education, organizing and activism work to hold the Canada and the U.S.-led West legally and politically accountable for supporting, enabling and legitimizing Israel’s ethnic cleansing starvation and genocide against Palestine and the Palestinian people.
Change media sources
Rights Action urges everyone to diversify their news sources, as a necessary antidote to the oftentimes harmful, misleading reporting coming from much of the government and corporate media in the U.S., the E.U. and Canada. We recommend daily news by Al Jazeera news (https://www.aljazeera.com), Democracy Now (www.democracynow.org), The Real News (https://therealnews.com/), etc.
We recommend getting involved with / following news feeds of
Breaking the Silence, Israel: https://www.breakingthesilence.org.il
Palestinian Youth Movement: https://palestinianyouthmovement.com
Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine: https://x.com/FranceskAlbs
Double Down News: https://www.doubledown.news
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East: https://www.cjpme.org
Jewish Voices for Peace (U.S.): https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org
Independent Jewish Voices (Canada): https://www.ijvcanada.org
If Not Now (U.S.): https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/
If Not Now (Cda): https://www.ifnotnow.ca/
Ceasefire Now: https://ceasfirenow.ca
Ceasefire Today: https://ceasefiretoday.com
BDS Movement: https://bdsmovement.net
972 Magazine, https://www.972mag.com/
Medical Aid for Palestinians: https://www.map.org.uk
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor: https://euromedmonitor.org/en
Canadian Foreign Policy Institute: https://www.foreignpolicy.ca
CODEPINK: https://twitter.com/codepink
World BEYOND War Canada: https://worldbeyondwar.org/canada