Vancouver police make arrest at home with links to designated terrorist group
Vancouver police say one person was taken into custody as part of a hate crimes investigation after a search warrant was executed at a home in the 1800 block of East 1st Avenue near Victoria Drive.
That person, who police have not identified, has now been released pending completion of the investigation, according to VPD spokesman Sgt. Steve Addison.
CBC has confirmed the home is that of Charlotte Lynne Kates, a director of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.
Last month, the Canadian government designated Samidoun as a terrorist entity in a joint action with the U.S.
Kates was arrested and released by the VPD in May after video of a rally was posted on social media showing her praising the Hamas attack on Israel and calling a number of terrorist organizations heroes.
Charlotte Kates gave a speech in favour of Hamas at a rally outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on April 26. Video circulated of the event has since led to a hate crime investigation by the Vancouver Police Department and an arrest.
According to a neighbour who asked not to be named, the VPD broke a window in Kates’s home after arriving with an armoured vehicle and officers in full tactical gear.
“It was scary for all of us,” said the neighbour.
Another neighbour said they were awakened by a loud bang at around 9 a.m. and then saw police in the back of Kates’s home, where she said two people live.
“I’ve lived next to them for three years, and they’re absolutely lovely people. They’re just fighting for rights for people,” said Darian Tourand. “I don’t think they’re dangerous or terrorists by any means.”
Franco Sabellico lives in the same block in the Commercial Drive neighbourhood.
“I’m worried about the neighbourhood and community,” he said. “That we can have… people associated with terrorist groups living right beside you is very alarming.”
Samidoun has close links with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is listed as a terrorist entity in Canada, the U.S. and the European Union.
Addison said the VPD’s major crime section and emergency response team attended the home, and the person in question is being investigated under Section 319 of the Criminal Code, which deals with public incitement of hatred.
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