Syrian Restaurant Owners Filing Complaint About Hate Messages, Toronto Cops Say

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 09 Oct, 2019 06:24 PM

TORONTO - A Toronto family forced to shut down their Syrian restaurant after a series of hate messages and death threats is filing a complaint with police.

The Alsoufi family, owners of the popular downtown restaurant Soufi's, announced on social media Tuesday that a spate of hateful messages and death threats had prompted them to close the business.

The family says the threats stemmed from a September event featuring People's Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier, which media reports said the family's eldest son had attended.

View this post on Instagram

Please know that we do not wish to hide or conceal the events that led to these threats, and wish to share the full story and address claims made by certain media groups in the near future, once it’s safe for us to do so

A post shared by Soufi's (@soufis_to) on Oct 8, 2019 at 7:31am PDT

The event became the source of controversy when a crowd of people protesting Bernier's presence was seen physically blocking and verbally abusing an elderly woman trying to enter the venue.

Police had previously said the family had called to lodge concerns last week about receiving hate messages, but they were not able to connect with officers.

Const. Victor Kwong said Wednesday that investigators were meeting with the family to gather details and likely launch a probe into the situation.

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