Despite protests, a Trudeau campaign gathering has been cancelled due to security concerns

After a campaign rally was canceled due to protesters, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has promised to tackle "rage with compassion." Trudeau was scheduled to speak to supporters in Bolton, Ont., on Friday evening, but the event was canceled due to security concerns.

Before Trudeau could deliver his speech, dozens of enraged protesters, outnumbering Liberal supporters, gathered near the Bolton rally and began yelling obscenities.

After a nearly two-hour wait, a man stepped to the loudspeaker to inform that the event had been cancelled, prompting further yelling from the audience. The OPP was dispatched to remove the campaign bus from the scene.

Later Friday evening, Trudeau spoke to media at a park in neighbouring Brampton. He acknowledged that the pandemic has had a negative impact on everyone, including those who demonstrated at his event.

The event was cancelled, according to Trudeau, since the event's safety could not be guaranteed. He went on to say that he has never witnessed such rage or passion on a campaign trail, including when he was a child campaigning with his father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. The cancellation of the gathering comes amid rising tensions in Trudeau's and other leaders' campaigns.

On Wednesday afternoon, anti-vaccine protesters greeted Trudeau in Surrey, B.C., with some shouting at him that they were refusing to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. While campaigning in Windsor, Ont. on Wednesday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh received a racial insult.

A man shouted "go back home" from a passing vehicle during Singh's campaign event in a park. Singh, who was born in Scarborough, Ontario, and raised in Windsor, persevered in his speech.

Trudeau was confronted by two mobs of enraged demonstrators on Friday alone. On Friday afternoon, demonstrators gathered at an earlier Liberal campaign event in Nobleton, Ont. The Nobleton visit was supposed to be a picture op at a local bakery, but the crowd, who looked to be criticising the pandemic policy, swiftly disrupted it.

Demonstrators had gathered outside the venue before the Liberal campaign bus arrived, brandishing placards that read "Trudeau Treason." The mob began yelling and shouting as soon as the bus arrived, and it only got louder as the Liberal leader stepped out. Protesters followed Trudeau and his RCMP security detail as they made their way toward the bakery's entrance, shouting and giving him the middle finger.

Trudeau took a tour of the bakery and met with the owners and several employees before moving around a seating area to speak with a few customers. Unmasked protesters entered the bakery and began trailing Trudeau.

"Why are you threatening segregation?" yelled one woman. Another woman cried "leave the kids alone!" in response to the Liberals' proposal of a billion-dollar grant to assist provinces build their own vaccine passports.

Demonstrators surrounded Trudeau's path as he left the bakery to return to his campaign bus, shouting and gesturing at him. On Friday night, Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole sent out a tweet condemning the use of profanity and vulgar gestures at Trudeau's campaign events.

On Twitter, Singh of the New Democratic Party said that everyone "deserves to be safe on the campaign path. I'm sad to hear what happened tonight to Mr. Trudeau and the Liberal team, and I hope everyone is okay," Singh wrote.

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