TORONTO: After some unidentified persons threatened a Muslim woman with knife, the Toronto police have launched an investigation. The woman was wearing a hijab. and travelling on TTC.
Police spokesperson Cindy Chung confirmed that officers were called to Wilson Station for a report of a person with a knife. Chung did not provide any further details about the investigation, but said that members of the Toronto Police Service Hate Crime Unit have been notified.
“Toronto Police are aware of this incident and are currently investigating, including reviewing TTC camera footage,” Police spokesman said.
News of the investigation comes hours after National Council of Canadian Muslims released a statement, calling on police to investigate the incident as a “hate-motivated crime” and “urgently apprehend the armed assailant.”
In the statement, the organization said that a woman wearing a hijab was riding the subway between Vaughan Metropolitan and Finch West stations when a “man approached her and peppered her with questions about her religion.”
The group stated that the man then said “you know what we do with people like you” before “unsheathing a large knife he pulled out of his backpack.”
“The survivor ran for her life across several subway cars until a bystander helped by pulling the emergency alarm on the train,” the statement notes.
The victim woman said that she saved herself bu running so fast that she lost her breath and a stranger came to her rescue.
