The Toronto lawyer arrested prior to a Doug Ford rally at the Hamilton international airport on Thursday says she was not at the event to protest.
Caryma Sa’d, who insists she RSVP’d organizers to “observe and document” the gathering, says she did not attend with a group and was not blocking traffic with protesters alleged to have occupied a road to Cargojet hanger.
“I wasn’t associated with anyone apart from myself and my cameraman,” Sa’d told the Alan Carter Radio Program.
“I’m very surprised to hear that statement from Hamilton police, because I made all of this abundantly clear.”
Caryma Sa’d shared a video of her arrest in which her cameraman asked an officer, “Can she leave?” as handcuffs are being put on to her wrists.
The officer’s response, as seen and heard in the video, was, “No, she had her opportunity.”
Sa’d’s response was, “This is the Hamilton police arresting me for political dissent” and would soon have her mobile phone taken by the officer after asking if she could give it to the cameraman.
In a release after the occurrence, a Hamilton Police Service (HPS) spokespeople did not identify S’ad as the woman charged with trespassing at John C. Munro International Airport but did clarify that person refused to leave the premises when asked by an event representative.
She was subsequently arrested for failing to comply with that request.
S’ad would be transported off the property and later released with a ticket for Trespass to Property which typically carries a $65 fine in Hamilton.
“There was nothing at all to suggest that I was there to protest,” Sa’d said.
“I didn’t have a sign, I didn’t have a megaphone, and in fact, I have no history of being disruptive at events.”
Sa’d is a known advocate for housing, cannabis and criminal law. She’s also been active on issues relating to politics, justice, poverty and racism.
Her motivation to attend was to potentially seize an opportunity to question Ford in scrum but suggests a concern over her “political speech” may have been a factor in her incarceration.
She says she previously attended one other Ford event during the campaign kickoff in early May which resulted in a voluntary departure after being told by an official on site she was not welcome.
“I understood that I was trespassing from that specific venue, and I took the trouble to RSVP under my real name using my real email address and got a confirmation to this Hamilton rally,” S’ad said.
Global News has reached out to the Ford campaign and Hamilton police for further comment on Sa’d’s appearance at the airport.
Neither have responded to this story as of late Friday afternoon.
One of Doug Ford’s opponents in the current election campaign, Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca, responded to Thursday’s incident in a social media post suggesting the Progressive Conservative leader was “hiding” from the media.