Protester pelts pebbles at Canadian PM Trudeau on campaign trail

A protester has pelted pebbles at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a campaign trail in Ontario.

The Liberal Party leader was leaving an event and was returning to his campaign bus on Monday when a handful of gravel was thrown at him from the crowd.

Apart from Trudeau, two other people traveling on the media bus were hit by the gravel, but nobody was injured during the incident.

Trudeau's main rival, Conservative leader Erin O'Toole, and New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh condemned the incident, with O'Toole describing it as "disgusting."

Trudeau has on several recent occasions faced off with what he has described as "anti-vaxxer mobs" who are angry with his government's handling of the COVID-19 crisis. Last week, he was forced to cancel an event over security concerns.

"Yes, there is a small fringe element in this country that is angry, that doesn't believe in science, that is lashing out with racist, misogynistic attacks," Trudeau said at a campaign stop.

"But Canadians, the vast majority of Canadians, are not represented by them, and I know will not allow those voices, those special interest groups, those protesters — I don't even want to call them protesters, those anti-vaxxer mobs — to dictate how this country gets through this pandemic," he said.

Trudeau called a snap election in August, hoping to secure a majority government for his party, but he has slipped in the polls and is now in a statistical dead heat with O'Toole.

MG