The Montreal police hate-crime unit has arrested a 16-year-old boy in connection with the burning of Israeli flags taken from a West Island school on Wednesday.
The boy will face charges of theft, arson, and mischief, said Montreal police spokesperson Véronique Dubuc.
“It’s possible that other arrests will eventually be made in this case,” she said.
Security was beefed up around Hebrew Foundation School after the private Jewish elementary school in Dollard-des-Ormeaux was targeted.
A video of the incident, posted by NGO StopAntisemitism on social media, shows a young man ripping five flags off a fence outside the school; the flags are then thrown on a fire elsewhere.
Theft and destruction of property alert - a man films himself earlier today stealing and then setting on fire Israeli flags hung outside a Jewish Day School in Dollard Des Ormeaux, Montreal @SPVM
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) April 27, 2023
The school was celebrating Israel’s 75th Independence Day pic.twitter.com/P0Es91G7si
The flags were set up outside the school to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Israeli independence. Several thousand Montrealers took part in Israel Day events on Wednesday.
Montreal police quickly called in their hate-crimes unit to investigate. While it has yet to be officially deemed a hate crime, “we take these things very seriously,” a spokesperson said.