Journalist gets smackdown while taking photo; writes about it in Toronto Sun

Freelance journalist David Menzies apparently got the smackdown from "a woman wearing a hijab" last weekend after she was captured in a photo he took at Younge-Dundas Square with his nine-year-old son. Being a journalist, Menzies decided to write about it — in the Toronto Sun.

Here is his detailing of the incident:

Freelance journalist David Menzies apparently got the smackdown from "a woman wearing a hijab" last weekend after she was captured in a photo he took at Younge-Dundas Square with his nine-year-old son. Being a journalist, Menzies decided to write about it — in the Toronto Sun.

Here is his detailing of the incident:

"Suddenly, a woman wearing a hijab ran toward me. She was part of a group that included two women wearing full face-covering burkas. She was screaming: 'We are Muslim! You do not take pictures of us!' (Odd. I can’t find the 'no photos' rule in the Qur’an.) I informed the lady I was in a public square in a democracy. I can actually take pictures of whomever I please. And then: Ka-pow! Her fist collided with my face. Worse, she almost knocked my new camera from my hands. My son and I were then surrounded by a mob of about 20 people, many of whom were speaking Arabic. One kept demanding I surrender my camera to him. It was surreal. Was I in Toronto — or Riyadh?"

A police officer was nearby, and Menzies reported the incident, but the woman, he says, was not charged.

Menzies was clearly not happy about it.

He writes:

The fact we have Islamists living amongst us who despise western values isn’t news. But surely you can’t just sock someone in the mouth. Well, apparently you can — as long as the intent of the aggressor was merely to inflict property damage. World’s upside-down. Just thought you should know."