Charges dropped against members of pro-Palestinian group ‘Indigo 11’

A Toronto lawyer says charges have been withdrawn against three more people accused of defacing a downtown Indigo bookstore in a 2023 protest.

Arash Ghiassi, who represents two people in the group of accused, says that means seven out of 11 people have had their charges dropped in the case. 

Ghiassi says two members of the group pleaded guilty on Thursday and will be seeking absolute discharges from the court, which were granted to two others who previously entered guilty pleas. 

“They are anti-racist activists who have been doing excellent work in the community, helping the most marginalized people, and we think the judge has to decide whether it is in the public interest for these individuals to have convictions on their record, and it absolutely is not,” he said.

Toronto police laid charges of mischief, conspiracy and criminal harassment after the store was postered and splashed with red paint in what they described at the time as “suspected hate-motivated offences.”

Indigo founder and chief executive Heather Reisman, who is Jewish, has been a target of protests over a foundation she started with her husband that offers scholarships to people with no family ties in Israel who served in that country’s military. 

CityNews reached out to Indigo for a comment on the latest court decision, but has yet to receive a response.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center and other organizations have denounced the Indigo protests as antisemitic, an allegation denied by protesters and their supporters.

Activists have accused the police and others of mischaracterizing the November 2023 protest as “hate-motivated” in an effort to silence pro-Palestinian groups, and alleged that officers carried out unjustified raids on the accused as they made the arrests. 

Toronto police have previously said their officers carried out “judicially authorized” search warrants as part of the investigation.

Files from CityNews reporter Jazan Grewal were used in this report