A Toronto restaurant founded by a Syrian family that has been widely lauded as a success story of Canada’s refugee resettlement program closed abruptly after its owners said they received death threats and hate messages.The shuttering of Soufi’s, on Queen St. W., follows a storm of social media posts that placed one of the restaurant owners’ sons at a protest outside a People’s Party of Canada rally in Hamilton on Sept. 29. Videos of the political fundraiser show Dorothy Marston, 81, trying to enter Mohawk College using her walker while a wall of masked individuals blocked her way, calling her “Nazi scum.” Marston said she attended the event because she was curious to hear party leader Maxime Bernier speak.Video of the encounter has gone viral. Hamilton police would not confirm a connection between the restaurant and the protest. A spokesperson told the Toronto Star its investigation “remains ongoing” and stated in an email: “There is no information to support that the conduct of the protesters was in violation of Section 318 (1) of the Criminal Code of Canada - Hate Propaganda.”In a post added to the restaurant’s website on Tuesday, the Al-Soufi family did not explain the details of the death threats they’ve received, noting only that “we do not wish to conceal the events that led to these threats, and wish to address the statements shared by the alt-right media in the near future, once it’s safe for us to do so.”They did not respond to the Star’s requests for interviews by email and texts.Soufi’s was founded by Husam and Shahnaz Al-Soufi, who came to Canada after they and their three children were sponsored by a community group in 2015. The family opened the restaurant two years later, touting its Middle Eastern food as a culinary offering “from Syria with love.”“As a result of numerous hate messages & death threats we have received over ...
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