Protesters speak out after shutting down Toronto's Pride Parade

This is where Toronto's Pride parade came to a premature end on Sunday, with a group of pro Palestinian protesters blocking the route demanding that Pride Toronto end its quote complicity in genocide. Some 30 demonstrators with the Coalition Against Pink Washing brought the back half of Toronto's largest parade to a halt around 5:30 PM, refusing to move unless Pride Toronto agreed to their demands, namely cutting ties with any corporations they say support Israel. Including one of the event's main sponsors, TD Bank is invested in General Dynamics. It makes arms for Israel that are supporting this genocide, and Pride Toronto refuses to even discuss this question. Gary Kinsman left Pride Toronto in April after he says leadership refused to respond to community concerns well in advance of the event. That's why he says the protest was justified despite some disappointment. You will have a number of people who are don't really know anything about Palestine, have never really heard about it before, will be really upset. But if they actually at this moment is actually where they begin to realize that something important was going on there and they will also change their mind. Protesters holding a press conference Monday morning claim they too were disappointed that Pride Toronto cut the parade short. Rather than have a conversation with us about the demands, the executive director Quadromodoste, marched past us and decided to cancel the parade. But Kojo Modest, executive director of Pride Toronto, tells us their demands were not feasible. As it relates to continuing to work with sponsors, it is needed in order for us to be able to do what we do. These are Canadian companies that are willing to invest in the two SL, GB, TQ community. But Kingsman believes that money lost from cutting ties with Israeli supporting corporations would allow the event to return to its roots. Protest and liberation, not corporate spectacle. And what you'd actually see is that Pride Toronto would be revitalized. If it became a real community based organization that pushed forward all of our struggles, including around Palestine and against the police and the use of police was another sticking point for protesters asked and demanded that part trying to respect its communities demands to remove the Toronto police from all prior Toronto matters and affairs. The bylaws for the City of Toronto is very clear. If you're going to close the streets of the city, you need to work with Toronto police. Police say no arrests were made and they were respecting Pride Toronto's request that they not interfere with any protesters who disrupted the parade at Young and Wellesley. Michelle Mackey, City News.