London doctor charged after ketchup spraying incident at MP's office

London, Ont., doctor Tarek Loubani has been charged with mischief after an incident in which police say ketchup was squirted at the office of London North Centre MP Peter Fragiskatos following a pro-Palestinian protest last month.

Police say group of people gathered outside of an office in the 200-block of Hyman Street just after 2 p.m. on Oct. 22.

It's alleged Loubani took a bottle of ketchup from a backpack and squirted it on the building's door and exterior, and then handed bottles to three other men and "encouraged them to also deface the building," police said in a media release.

Loubani appeared in court by video from London police headquarters on Thursday afternoon, where he had been held overnight.

He was released with an undertaking with no conditions, and will reappear in court on Dec. 6. Police said the three other men would not be charged. 

"Based on what we know so far, what Dr. Loubani is said to have done -- even if it happened -- is not a crime. Members of the public have the constitutional right to protest against their elected officials," Loubani's lawyers, Arash Ghiassi and Riaz Sayani, said in a statement.

Ghiassi and Sayani claimed Loubani was held overnight by police because he refused to agree to a condition preventing him from protesting against Fragiskatos.

"The London police's heavy-handed approach to political protest in this case is incompatible with the Charter right to freedom of expression," their statement said.

Loubani, 42, works at London Health Sciences Centre and has worked in Gaza. He was also among 19 medics shot by the Israeli military in Gaza in 2018. He also works with Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry and is known for his work in the 3-D printing of medical devices.

"As this is a matter now before the courts, we are unable to comment on this specific situation; however, we can confirm that Dr. Tarek Loubani currently has privileges at London Health Sciences Centre," a LHSC spokesperson said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Loubani posted on X, the social media platform formally known as Twitter, to say that he would be arrested. 

In his post, Loubani said he took part in the protest because Fragiskatos "refuses to call for a ceasefire against the civilians in Gaza."

Fragiskatos, like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has faced increased pressures to call for a ceasefire. Trudeau has instead called for a "sustained humanitarian pause" in the bombardments.

More than 30 MPs, including 23 Liberals, recently wrote a letter to Trudeau urging him to cal lfor a ceasefire. Two London MPs, Liberal Arielle Kayabaga and New Democrat Lindsay Matheyssen, were among the signatories.

Nehal Al Tarhuni, president of the Canadian Palestinian Social Association, called Loubani's charges a waste of resources and tax money.

"Our thoughts is that Dr. Loubani should be right now working at the hospital attending to his patients and not sitting in a jail cell over allegations about ketchup," Al Tarhuni told CBC London before Loubani's court appearance.

"Our tax money is better... spent on the police doing what they need to be doing in terms of their job, keeping the city safe, and this is not keeping the city safe."

Al Tarhuni charged that Fragiskatos was ignoring his constituents' calls for a ceasefire, and was instead "spending the energy giving media releases about the ketchup on his building."

"What I'm hearing from the community in his riding is multiple emails and phone calls have been made, [and] he has not made the effort to respond to them, and when he responded to them, it was a generic email that was sent to everybody."

Speaking with CBC London, Fragiskatos declined to comment specifically on Loubani's arrest, but rejected Al Tarhuni's assertion that he was ignoring constituents.

"I've had many phone calls over the past several weeks, and in particular, this week, with members of the community who do want to see the Canadian government call for a ceasefire. Those conversations will continue," he said.

Fragiskatos said his office had seen subsequent incidents of vandalism and a recent incident in which someone tried to "forcibly enter the office and occupy it."

"Who knows what could have transpired at that point in time? Certainly, the safety of our staff would have been compromised, and that's not something that's acceptable," he said.

"For that reason, I haven't had conversations with those protesting in front of the office. But I have had many, many conversations with Londoners who do want to speak to me and have a view that Canada should call a ceasefire."