A 47-year-old man is facing charges in connection with threats that forced the evacuation of Concordia University.
Hisham Saadi appeared via videoconference Thursday afternoon and is expected to face a bail hearing Friday. He remains behind bars on multiple counts including uttering threats, mischief, and inciting fears of a terrorist threat and will undergo a mental health evaluation.
Classes for thousands of university students were cancelled on Wednesday after a threatening letter was sent to the school.
That letter said multiple explosives would be detonated in a bid to target Muslim students, but a search of three buildings never found any trace of a bomb.
The letter stated it was from a group calling itself the Council of Conservative Citizens of Canada.
It read: "Now that President Trump is in office south of the border, things have changed," then lists several complaints about Muslims.
In the United States, the Council of Conservative Citizens is a white supremacist group that believes people of European descent should not integrate or intermarry with people of other ethnic backgrounds.
It is believed to be the largest white nationalist group in the United States.
Police said they tracked down the suspect within a few hours, and early Thursday morning assembled an Emergency Response Team to arrest the man.
An apartment building on Darlington Ave. near Goyer St. was evacuated of about 30 residents as police raided the man's apartment. No explosives or any other suspicious devices were found in his apartment.
Residents said they heard a series of booms and bangs as police conducted the raid.
"It kind of started with like five rounds, then it stopped for a minute, then two rounds, and now it's silent. But we're not quite sure that it's actually gun sounds," said one resident.
"I never would have thought that the person was going to be living right next to me," said neighour Timothy Muntu.
Saadi was arrested and was questioned by police on Thursday.
The residents were eventually allowed to return home once the man was in custody and police verified that the building was safe.
Concordia University was open but was taking precautions.
“We are using extra security agents this week and we will do that through the end of the week. We're also still working very closely with the police, there is a heightened police presence around our campus and that's more to provide a sense of comfort and to let people know that they're on top of it,” said spokesperson Chris Mota.
The Muslim Students Association applauded the actions.
“Increasing staff and security is something that we appreciate and that is needed, in fact,” said Ibrahim Abou Arab, spokesperson for the student group.
The association issued a news release Wednesday evening, saying the bomb threats were "deeply troubling."
"The MSA unequivocally condemns all acts of violence and discrimination against any individual or group. No faith community should have to live in fear about the safety and well-being of its community members," the statement read, adding that it wants the threat to be investigated as a hate crime.
The threat came during Concordia’s Islamic Awareness Week, which continued Thursday in the lobby of the EV building.
“I feel like I need to be here because I need to clear those misconceptions, you know, guys we come in peace, we're a peaceful people, we are a loving people, we are not what you think of us,” said civil engineering student Salsabil Zayed. “The theme of this whole event is misconceptions, and we really hope to clear those misconceptions up and hopefully in the long run avoid such things from occurring.”
The suspect is believed to have sent a similar letter to McGill University, but the letter did not specifically target any buildings.
