Toronto rallies for Palestine
Photos from the December 10 action outside the US Consulate
Photojournalist John Pinel Donoghue was in downtown Toronto on December 10 to attend a pro-Palestine demonstration demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. The protest, attended by several thousand people, started outside the United States Consulate on University Avenue. It then moved to Yonge-Dundas Square before relocating to Toronto Police 52 division headquarters after a protester was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer.
According to the Toronto Star, the incident happened after “a police officer on foot [rammed] his bicycle into the bicycle of a woman standing in front of him. The woman, who was holding her bicycle, fell over as the bike toppled. A man ran up after and shoved an officer to the ground in retaliation. Police then tackled, beat and arrested him.” Video of the altercation shows a group of officers pinning a man to the ground, one with their knee, while another punches him repeatedly.
Sure hope Toronto Police intend to explain why this person was arrested, why one officer was punching them repeatedly, and another aggressively kneeling. What warrants this kind of force on someone already on the ground? https://t.co/MbQT06llrL
— Elamin Abdelmahmoud (@elamin88) December 10, 2023
The protest on December 10 was the latest in a string of actions organized by social movement organizations and student groups since early October. On November 25, an estimated 100,000 people participated in the “National March on Ottawa,” making it the largest protest in Canada to date against Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 17,000 people, including more than 7,000 children.
A selection of John’s photos can be found in the gallery below.
John Pinel Donoghue’s documentary photography career began when he brought his camera with him when he first went to Sandinista Nicaragua in 1988. He learned then that images can have a political impact. He knows that photographs alone cannot change the world but he also knows that in documenting how people respond to their moment in history one can contribute to positive social change. Photographs of inner strengths are what he has wanted to create. He has looked for and found them in the struggles of people ranging from Salvador, Guatemala, Brazil, Lebanon, other countries and currently on the streets of Toronto. To see more of John’s photography, visit his personal website here.