No charges laid following pro-Palestine protest at Bayshore Shopping Centre

Ottawa police say no charges were laid after a protest erupted at the Bayshore Shopping Centre in Ottawa last Friday that was targeting the clothing retailer Zara.

A crowd of approximately 100 demonstrators with Palestinian flags, signs, and drums marched through the Bayshore Shopping Centre Friday evening to protest the Spanish fashion company, which has come under fire for a recent advertising campaign that critics say references the Israel-Hamas war and the resulting devastation in Gaza.

Videos posted to social media show protesters walking through the mall, drumming and chanting. One video includes a person saying, "If your kids are scared, imagine what the kids in Palestine feel" as others chant, "while you're shopping, bombs are dropping."

Ottawa police chief Eric Stubbs addressed the protest at Monday's Ottawa Police Services Board meeting.

"We worked with Bayshore management, as well as their security, to assist in the arrival or the managing of the people… We had 12 police officers that attended the event and it lasted about one hour," Stubbs said.

"While no Criminal Code offences occurred, this was private property. Management did ask us to disperse the demonstrators. We were able to guide them through the mall safely and ask them to leave after about one hour."

A spokesperson for Bayshore told CTV News Ottawa that permission was not given to hold the event at the mall.

"We were not contacted by organizers regarding this event, nor was permission granted to hold this gathering on our private property," a statement said. "We did inform authorities once we became aware and worked collaboratively to monitor and manage the situation. As always, our priority remained to ensure a safe and comfortable environment for all customers and staff."

The protest in Ottawa was one of several protests against Zara. A protest at Toronto's Eaton Centre on Sunday is under investigation by Toronto police after a heated exchange between a protester and someone else in the mall. In one video, a protester says to someone "I'll lay you out on the floor" and threatens to put someone "six feet deep."

Zara pulled its controversial advertising campaign last week and issued an apology, saying it was conceived in July and photographed in September, before Hamas's attack on Oct. 7 and before Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Online critics said one image of a model holding a mannequin wrapped in a white shroud resembled burial shrouds used in Gaza, which have been seen repeatedly in news footage from the warzone.

Zara said in its online apology that the images were meant to showcase "craftmade garments in an artistic context."

--With files from The Canadian Press and CP24.