Montreal police have opened a hate crimes investigation after a series of coordinated attacks targeting Chassidic Jews unfolded Friday night in the Outremont and Mile-End neighborhoods, where Yidden walking home from Shabbos davening were reportedly harassed, assaulted, and subjected to antisemitic abuse.

According to CityNews Montreal, the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal’s (SPVM) specialized hate crimes unit is investigating the incidents after multiple victims were targeted by individuals riding through the area in a vehicle.

The Council of Hasidic Jews of Quebec (CJHQ) said several people returning from shul encountered aggressive harassment from the vehicle’s occupants.

“Victims were yelled at, subjected to antisemitic slurs, spat at, and had objects thrown at them,” the organization said in a statement posted on Facebook.

The CJHQ said several victims had their shtreimels ripped off or knocked from their heads during the attacks. Among those assaulted was an individual who uses a wheelchair.

Security camera footage released by the organization appears to show the suspects pulling their vehicle to the curb before one individual jumps out, sneaks up behind a pedestrian, attempts to yank the man’s shtreimel off while mocking him, and then runs back to the waiting vehicle, which quickly sped away.

The CJHQ condemned the attacks in the strongest terms, stressing, “This was not a prank or a random act of mischief.”

The incidents sparked widespread condemnation from elected officials and Jewish advocacy organizations.

Outremont Mayor Caroline Braun said she has witnessed an alarming rise in antisemitic incidents in recent months.

“For several months now, I have observed a disturbing rise in antisemitism in Montreal and Outremont,” Braun wrote on Facebook. “We have seen the emergence of hateful graffiti, acts of intimidation, violence, and hate speech that have no place in our city. This must stop.”

United Against Hate Canada called on authorities to strengthen the SPVM’s hate crimes unit and urged greater involvement from the city’s Public Security Commission.

“There needs to be rapid arrests for this latest manifestation of hate and the heaviest instruments in the Criminal Code need to be used against those arrested,” said Marvin Rotrand, director general of United Against Hate Canada, as quoted by CityNews.

Rotrand’s organization also urged Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada to establish a dedicated municipal task force to combat the growing wave of antisemitism.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) likewise denounced the attacks, warning that they reflect a broader national crisis.

The organization described the assaults as “a horrific act of Jew hatred in Montreal… A month after the prime minister’s address, Canada’s antisemitism crisis continues as attacks targeting visibly Jewish Canadians spread across the country. Here’s what happens when antisemitism is normalized: A gratuitous, cowardly, and hateful attack against Hasidic Jews was carried out on Friday evening.”

The latest assaults come amid an ongoing surge in antisemitic incidents across Canada, particularly in Montreal.

Congregation Beth Tikvah, a synagogue in Montreal, has been targeted twice within the past year by firebomb attacks.

In November 2024, a man described as Arab entered a Jewish-owned business in Montreal and threatened to kill its owners while unleashing an expletive-filled tirade against Jews and Israel.

That threat came only days after violent riots erupted during a pro-Palestinian Arab demonstration in Montreal, where participants burned an effigy of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, hurled firecrackers at police officers, smashed storefront windows, and set several vehicles ablaze.

In July 2024, vandals desecrated a Jewish cemetery in Montreal by arranging stones atop graves in the shape of a swastika.

Last November, the phrases “Kill all Jews” and “Allahu Akbar” were discovered scrawled on a bathroom wall at Concordia University.

More recently, in March, a kosher restaurant and a neighboring business in Montreal were vandalized in another apparent antisemitic incident.