UPDATE, Nov 25, 2025: The woman who drove through the demonstration was a city contractor named Athena Niggenaber, confirmed by Samira Mohyeddin with On The Line and later Mahdis Habibinia with the Toronto Star. As detailed by Mohyeddin and others, several of Niggenaber’s social media posts contain anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia. The Scarborough resident refused to answer the Star’s request for comment.
Organizers are raising the alarm on public safety and policing after a woman drove a sidewalk snowplow through a peaceful Palestinian solidarity demonstration in downtown Toronto.
On Tues., Nov. 18, people gathered outside of the U.S. Consulate to protest the UN Security Council’s decision to adopt President Donald Trump’s plan for an international stabilization force in Gaza.
Midway through the demonstration, which organizers estimate drew around 300 people, a woman driving an orange Kubota tractor drove directly towards a crowd that had gathered on the sidewalk.
“She busted through the middle of the crowd without stopping, hitting several people,” Benjamin Nolan tells The Grind. Nolan was the designated police liaison for the protest. He describes the incident as an attempt to “intimidate” the crowd. “Luckily, there were no serious injuries.”
Videos circulated online showing a man giving a speech and then the tractor driving directly through the crowd, causing panic and forcing demonstrators to quickly scatter out of the way. Some of those present say they were hit, but no one suffered serious injuries.
“What is this? Is this for real?” one attendee yelled. “Is that a regular person who stole that thing? What the f– is that?”
In the video, the driver does not appear to slow down or honk. Some protesters can be seen hitting the back of the plow with signs and placards.
Moments after the tractor emerged from the crowd, photographer Geoff George snapped a photo of the driver giving the protesters the middle finger.
After the plow had gone about a block north past the demonstration, the driver pulled over and spoke to police officers, before being allowed to drive away.
In one video, the tractor is seen driving past two police officers, who do not react or attempt to pursue the driver. In another video, an officer is seen dismissing complaints by organizers who witnessed the incident.
“The police watched the entire thing happen,” says Nolan. “It was frustrating because [before the event] they gave this big song and dance about how the police were present to keep us safe.”
‘A pattern of violence’
Omar Mahmoud is an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) who witnessed the incident.
“It was shocking, to be honest,” he tells The Grind. “It took a few hours to even process what happened, it was unbelievable.”
Mahmoud says that the incident is especially concerning given the recent spat of violence against Palestinians and those supporting Palestinian liberation in Toronto.
On Nov. 17, police arrested someone after allegedly spraying a noxious substance at a Palestine supporter attending the Palestinian flag raising event at Toronto City Hall. And on Nov. 5, an Israeli soldier manhandled several university students who were protesting an off-campus event.
“This just seems like part of a pattern of violence against Palestinians that’s going unchecked,” Mahmoud says. “And people are feeling empowered to continue this cycle against us.”
‘No reason to believe there was any malicious intent’
The identity of the plow’s driver has not been confirmed, but the city spokesperson Russell Baker said that the driver was a contractor doing a “dry run” ahead of the winter season at the time of the incident. (There was no snow on the ground on Tuesday, nor was any expected that night).
In a statement provided to CBC News, Baker said that the city is opening an investigation into the incident, adding that “the behaviour displayed is completely unacceptable and falls short of the standards we expect from contractors operating on behalf of the City of Toronto.”
Toronto Police Services, which did not respond to The Grind’s request for comment, told CBC News that “no complainants have come forward” in connection with the incident.
“At this point, we have no reason to believe there was any malicious intent by the driver,” police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer added.
However, those present at the demonstration, including the police liaison Nolan, say that the incident was “very clearly deliberate” and that people complained on scene to police.
“[The driver] had every option to avoid the crowd,” Nolan tells The Grind. “It wasn’t a very busy night. She could have driven into the bike lane or onto the road where there were no protesters.”
“I don’t think she was going full speed,” he adds, saying he doesn’t think the driver was trying to kill people “But I think it was an intimidation play.”
Another protest marshal told The Grind that they have seen the snowplow operator at other protests, where they were hostile to the pro-Palestine crowd. A user on social media also shared a clip of a woman, who they allege is the same person, using an anti-Arab slur following a protest in East York on Nov. 5.
Incident celebrated by Israel supporters
After video of the incident spread online, some Israel supporters were quick to make light of it. “I can’t help but find this amusing,” National Post columnist Terry Glavin posted on X, while others joked that they wanted to buy the plow operator a beer.
“We need more tractors to move Hamas gangs off our streets,” Meir Weinstein wrote on X. Weinstein was formerly the national director of the Jewish Defense League, a far-right political organization that was designated as a terrorist organization in the U.S. (Canada did not apply that designation). He now heads the group Israel Now!
On Thursday, Weinstein shared another post about a Palestinian solidarity demonstration happening on Nov. 23: “Is the Tractor coming to Bathurst and Sheppard?”
