It was a confrontation Montreal’s Jewish community says should never have happened. Police entered an Outremont synagogue Thursday night after a complaint, investigating a religious ceremony amid restrictions on gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic. “I saw there was eight police lined up on the building,” said Max Lieberman, a member of the Council of Hasidic Jews of Quebec. “The police told me they got the complaint from the fire department, that the fire department saw close to 50 people doing a prayer. “It was not true.
No one was in this building.” Police won’t comment on the incident. But the community insists the building was empty and officers were too heavy-handed. “We follow the rules.