Beloved Toronto Syrian restaurant Soufi's just announced they'll be permanently shutting down after receiving death threats.
Last week, the owner's son attended an Antifa rally, which unintentionally got out of hand.
The rally, which took place in Hamilton outside a Maxime Bernier event, made headlines when 81-year-old Dorothy Marston was called "nazi scum" while trying to enter the venue where the leader of the People's Party of Canada was speaking.
Word then got out that one of the protesters involved in the incident was the son of the owner of Soufi's, which led the owners to publish a public statement on their Facebook page apologizing for the incident and asking people to refrain from sending them hateful and abusive messages.
But sadly, that didn't work.
"As a result of numerous hate messages and death threats we've received over the past week, we've decided to permanently close our shop," a statement on the restaurant's Instagram page reads.
"Our decision is made with a heavy heart in effort to maintain our family and staff's safety."
Shortly after the statement was posted, devastated customers began taking to the comments section to express their sadness and frustration.
"Devastating. Very sorry to hear. Stay safe," one Instagram user wrote.
"This is terribly sad and makes me sick to my stomach to think this happened to you. We are better than this, Canada," another commented.
Soufi's was founded by the family of Syrian newcomers back in 2017, and it brought authentic Syrian food to its Queen West neighbourhood.
"Since we opened up Soufi's in 2017, we have been met with nothing but curiosity, respect, acceptance, and love from the people of Toronto, and for that we are eternally grateful," their statement continues.
"We will cherish the countless memories of us sharing stories, food, music and laughter."
by Mira Miller via blogTO
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