Protesters purchased tickets, planned rally inside Halifax Davis Cup venue: organizer

Hundreds of people are eligible for refunds as Tennis Canada bars fans from attending the Israel-Canada game in Halifax.

Protesters planned to disrupt the Davis Cup tennis qualifiers tournament between Canada and Israel after purchasing a “few dozen” tickets to the event, according to a protest organizer.

Isaac Saney tells CTV News the group is calling for the cancellation of this weekend’s tennis tournament.

“We know quite a number of tickets were purchased by protesters or by people who intended to protest the event inside of the venue,” said Saney, a community activist and one of several organizers involved in a protest against the Davis Cup, which is set for Scotiabank Centre.

Demonstrators have been vocal in their opposition to the tennis match and held rallies in the lead-up to the tournament. Saney calls Tennis Canada’s decision to bar spectators from watching the event a small victory, but he and other opponents say it doesn’t go far enough. They continue to call for the event to be cancelled altogether.

“It’s not a complete victory but it’s a victory,” said Saney following a press conference held by protesters at the Bus Stop Theatre on Gottingen Street.

“They have been forced to skunk in the shadows,” said Saney. “As no athlete wants to perform without spectators.”

On Tuesday, Tennis Canada announced the tournament would be played in a closed venue amid “escalating safety concerns” flagged by local authorities and national security agencies.

More than 400 Canadian athletes and academics, including Olympic runner Moh Ahmed, urged Tennis Canada to cancel the tie over Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank.

Tennis Canada declined an interview with CTV Atlantic News on Wednesday but in an email said they had sold about 1,500 tickets to both Friday and Saturday’s games — all of which will be refunded, they said.

The 1,500 tickets sold is not even a third of the 5,000 tickets that were available for the matches, which will now be played in an empty arena.

Saney said activists had planned to disrupt the tournament inside but that won’t happen now with the tight security. However, a rally is being planned for both days outside the arena to send their message.

Saney tells CTV News that demonstrations have and will continue to be peaceful. It’s not clear if Tennis Canda made its decision to bar spectators based on this information.

But Saney confirmed police reached out to him Wednesday morning to find out more about their planned demonstrations.

“They were going to go in there to display Palestinian flags perhaps and to shout slogans,” said Saney, who emphasized he wasn’t part of the plans to demonstrate inside the venue.

Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, shared a social media post Tuesday thanking Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore and Tennis Canada CEO Gavin Ziv for their “steadfast commitment to ensuring that the Davis Cup matches between Israel and Canada proceed as scheduled.”

“However, it is deeply troubling that extreme protestors have created an unsafe and hostile environment that threatens the safety of fans, players, and staff attending these matches,” reads the post.

“International sports should transcend political agendas – an arena where we celebrate excellence, unity, and the shared spirit of humanity. It must remain free of hate, violence, and incitement. As a prominent liberal democracy, Canada bears a responsibility to ensure the safety of all people, and to reject attempts by any form of extremism to control the public domain.”

Events East, which manages and oversees events at Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre, declined an interview request with CTV News Wednesday but said in a statement an economic analysis completed before the tournament estimated it could bring in $2 to $2.5 million for the local economy.

But those projections were made well before the decision to bar fans from attending the event.

-With files from The Canadian Press

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