Canada Three arrested in protest outside Hamilton event featuring Maxime Bernier

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young People's Party Leader Maxime Bernier speaks at an event in Hamilton, Ont., on Sunday, September 29, 2019.

HAMILTON — Three people have been charged in connection with a protest outside an event featuring People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier in Hamilton last month.

One of the people charged is a man whose family was forced to close their Toronto restaurant after they said they received death threats over his participation in the rally.

The popular Syrian restaurant, Soufi's, reopened days later but is temporarily under different management while the family takes a break from the business.

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The PPC, lead by Maxime Bernier, is polling higher in Alberta than elsewhere in Canada, even higher than Bernier's home province of Quebec.The 26-year-old was raised in Grimshaw, a small northern Alberta town where 70 per cent of residents voted Tory in the last federal election.

Hamilton police say about 100 protesters were outside the building at Mohawk College on Sept. 29 as people entered the venue. No injuries were reported.

The event became a lightning rod for criticism when video footage surfaced showing masked protesters blocking an elderly woman with a walker from entering.

They say four people were arrested and released unconditionally that night. One man was arrested on Tuesday and two more turned themselves in today.

Alaa Al Soufi, a 27-year-old from Toronto, is charged with two counts of intimidation, two of disguise with intent and one of causing a disturbance.

Thirty-three-year-old Kevin Metcalfe of Toronto is charged with obstructing police and Maximiliano Herrera, a 30-year-old from Toronto, is charged with intimidation and assault.