Crown prosecutors have dropped assault and harassment charges against a woman who pulled the hijab of a protester at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Ottawa in May, saying it needed to balance the public interest in prosecution and the reasonable prospect of conviction.
As part of the reasoning given for withdrawing charges on Thursday, assistant Crown attorney Moiz Karimjee said the Crown considered a number of factors, including that the victim was chanting “From the River to the Sea Palestine will be Free,” which he said could be reasonably inferred to be “a call for genocide of the Jewish people.”
