An “arson attack” at a Montreal synagogue caused minor damage, police said Wednesday, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denouncing it as a “vile antisemitic attack.”
Flames were seen rising from the building at around 3 a.m. Police later said they found an “incendiary device” near the scene.
“The damage is minor, we are talking about smashed windows and damage caused by smoke from the fire,” Montreal police spokeswoman Veronique Dubuc said.
There were no injuries, she said.
Witnesses saw a “suspicious man” leave the area right after the fire broke out, she said, and another building belonging to a Jewish community group was also damaged nearby.
A criminal investigation was underway, but Dubuc said it was too early to attribute a motive.
The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) posted on X that it was “once again outraged” by these “cowardly acts” aimed at “intimidating and harassing” the Jewish community.
It called for “justice and swift action” from authorities, which Trudeau echoed.
The organization noted that this marked the seventh time a Jewish institution had been targeted in Montreal — the second time for this synagogue — since the outbreak of conflict in Gaza last year.
Trudeau denounced on X the “cowardly” and “vile antisemitic attack.”
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, called it “yet another example of the vile wave of violence, hatred, and intimidation to which Jews in Canada — and all over the world — have been subjected in recent weeks and months.”
He urged the Canadian government to “act decisively, and show that such hatred will not be tolerated.”
