A Toronto restaurant owner is speaking out after her downtown business was vandalized hours after the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, and police say their hate crime unit is aware.
Banu, an Iranian restaurant on Queen Street W. near Bathurst Street, had its front window smashed and its interior damaged on Tuesday.
The restaurant, which has been in the area for more than 19 years, is co-owned by Samira Mohyeddin, a former CBC Radio journalist. On its website, the restaurant says it serves the “very best of Iranian culture, cocktails, and cuisine.”
Mohyeddin has an active social media presence and has been reporting on the war in Gaza, often expressing concerns about Israel’s actions in the conflict. Vandalism attacks have been a common occurrence since the Oct. 7 attacks, with both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian businesses becoming targets.
Toronto police say they are investigating, but have not deemed the incident a hate crime.
Asked why, police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer told CBC News “there would need to be evidence that the crime was motivated in whole or in part by the offender’s (real or perceived) bias, prejudice or hate against an identifiable group. At this time, there is no evidence of that.”
Toronto police are investigating and a spokesperson said in an email that its hate crime unit is aware of the incident. (Submitted by Samira Mohyeddin)
Security footage from Oct. 8th at around 3:30 a.m. shows a person approaching the restaurant, then coming back with a hammer, hitting the window five times before entering. The person, wearing a hoodie, a mask and gloves, was inside the business for about seven minutes. Mohyeddin said there are no fingerprints.
“I was very angry, extremely angry and really sad at the same time. Those were the two emotions that were really permeating when I first saw the footage, which was very jarring, and then seeing the actual front of the restaurant with the broken glass,” Mohyeddin said.
In addition to the front window being shattered, shelves, tables and chairs were knocked over, vases were broken.
Mohyeddin said she’s made a point of not naming her restaurant on her social media recently as a precaution.
“I’ve been very conscious not to mention my restaurant online, not to say anything about it for at least a year now. And I do that on all my platforms because I’ve seen how other people, their businesses, their livelihoods have been attacked for speaking out on what is happening in Gaza.”
MPP says she condemns ‘all forms of violence’
But Mohyeddin says she is concerned a heated exchange on social media between herself and Goldie Ghamari, an independent MPP, may have made her business a target. The exchange went on for months, Mohyeddin said.
Ghamari named the restaurant in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Sept. 13.
Mohyeddin said the post was “perverse,” “problematic” and “threatening.” She has contacted her MPP about the post.
“I cannot in any way prove that Goldie Ghamari is responsible for this,” Mohyeddin said.
“And I’m not even saying that Goldie Ghamari is responsible for this. What is important to me is that a sitting member of the legislature thought it was okay to name my restaurant online to her tens of thousands of followers. We were not talking about restaurants. The nature of her tweet is highly problematic. And that’s what I really want to impress upon people,” Mohyeddin said.
CBC Toronto has reached out to Ghamari but has not yet heard back.
Ghamari became an independent MPP after she was ousted by Premier Doug Ford’s party after meeting with a far-right British activist and anti-Islam campaigner.
In a post on X on Oct. 9, Ghamari said: “I condemn all forms of violence. I hope you release the security camera footage so we can help you identify the perpetrators.”