Justin Trudeau dances at Taylor Swift concert while violent protests erupt in Canada

A video of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dancing at a Taylor Swift concert while destructive protests unfolded in Montreal sparked widespread criticism over the weekend.

Trudeau, who represents a Montreal district, attended a Taylor Swift concert in Toronto on Friday night.

Courtesy: Don Stewart/X

A widely shared video on X shows Trudeau dancing and singing along to the song “You Don’t Own Me” before Taylor Swift’s performance began.

Toronto is approximately 280 miles west of Ottawa, Canada’s capital, and 330 miles from Montreal, the district Trudeau represents.

That same evening, anti-NATO protesters marched through Montreal carrying Palestinian flags and setting off smoke bombs.

According to the Montreal Gazette, the demonstrators clashed with police, set cars on fire, and caused destruction in the city.

Protesters also hurled small explosives and metal objects at officers and burned an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The juxtaposition of Trudeau dancing while protests unfolded in his hometown triggered backlash online, with some social media users comparing him to Nero, the Roman emperor famously associated with “fiddling while Rome burned.”

Don Stewart, a Toronto Member of Parliament (MP), criticized Trudeau in a post on X.

“Lawless protesters run roughshod over Montreal in violent protest. The Prime Minister dances,” Stewart wrote. “This is the Canada built by the Liberal government.”

“Bring back law and order, safe streets and communities in the Canada we once knew and loved,” Stewart added.

On Saturday, Trudeau condemned the protests and described them as “appalling.”

“What we saw on the streets of Montreal last night was appalling,” the Canadian leader said. “Acts of antisemitism, intimidation, and violence must be condemned wherever we see them.”