An armed man with an axe and a canister of pepper spray attacked worshippers at a mosque in a suburb of Toronto yesterday, Saturday, and the attack, which caused no casualties, was "strongly" condemned by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The local police, in a statement conveyed by the Agence France-Presse, said that the 24-year-old man, who was arrested, entered the mosque in the city of Mississauga in Ontario, eastern Canada, and sprayed the worshippers with pepper spray before they subdued him.

They explained that worshippers suffered minor injuries from the bear deterrent pepper spray.

The police estimated that the attack was an "individual act," while also indicating that it could be a "hate crime against Islam."

For his part, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the attack as "very disturbing" via Twitter, saying "I strongly condemn this violence that has no place in Canada," praising the "courage" of those who were in the mosque.

Many politicians, including the Mayor of Toronto and the Premier of the province, also denounced the attack on a place of worship.

The mosque's imam praised the worshippers' reaction on social media. Ibrahim Hindi said, "Before he could harm the worshippers, many worshippers bravely managed to stop him."

In June, a light truck driver deliberately killed a Muslim family in Ontario, an attack that shocked Canada, and Trudeau described it as "terrorist."