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This year, the self-flagellation ritual reached a point when last Sunday hundreds of young men took off their shirts on University Avenue facing the U.S. Consulate and started beating themselves in frightening unison.

A lawyer, originally from Lebanon, who was walking by the procession recognized what was happening and quickly recorded the scene taking place outside the 361 University Avenue Courthouse and sent it to the Toronto Sun.

Another recording emerged from 2017 that showed this practice of hundreds of shirtless men marching on our streets beating their bare chests and faces. This had happened without any objection by any politician, public figure or police.

I reached out to the candidates vying to be Toronto’s mayor and asked them if they would permit such public display of medieval rituals on our streets, if elected.

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Mayor John Tory’s office said the group marching bare chested “would not have received a permit from a City Division for this activity. It would most likely be a protest, although a cultural ritual, as it was done in front of the US Consulate.”

John Tory did not address the question whether he would permit such a procession if elected.

His main rival in the race, Jennifer Keesmat, did not respond at first, but after I persisted, her office sent the following message:

“Thank you for writing into the campaign. We hear your feedback and appreciate you sharing it with us. We’ll pass it along to our team.”