A community conversation of anti-racists in Red Deer, Canada, was forced to be cancelled when a group of counter protesters barged in, inciting violence. The incident occurred at Rotary Recreation Park near Golden Circle in Red Deer and Black Lives Matter protesters stated that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) did not protect them from the hate group.
The organizers of the rally had called for a news conference following the hit and run case of one of their protesters in Ponoka. The rally was organized to address this as well as anti-racism issues. But even before the event began a group of people with mega phones made an entry and started asking the protesters to leave in abusive terms.
Keisha Daniels, who is known to have led a number of anti-racism rallies, was the speaker during the occasion but not only the event was forced to be cancelled but she and her son received death threats.
Hate Group Abuses Anti-Racist Protesters
Speaking to City News channel, Daniels said that it was a traumatic experience. "There was no way we could have had a peaceful event with these people assaulting protesters," she said. In the video, the members of the hate group can be seen using the F** word, and being violent towards the protesters who were seen holding "Love Will Win," "We Love Peace" banners. The counter protesters were seen shouting "get the f**k out of here.
Some members of the hate group are known to have warned the anti-racism supporters openly. City News shared a video where a man in the white shirt is seen showing a video of a man beating up a woman protester. The man seen during the Red Deer protest is heard saying: "This is going to happen very soon. And if you walk into my communities, I am going to be this big guy in the white shirt. That's patriots kicking Antifa out of their towns."
Accordingly, in Red Deer, after pushing and hitting a BLM protester, one member of the hate group is heard saying "What did I do, I did nothing." Reports stated that at least nine police cars and about 15 RCMP officers were seen during at the rally but they just tried to stand between the two groups and did not prevent the haters from using abusive words or actions. Daniels said that RCMP did not press charges against any of the members of the hate group.
Watch the video of the protest here:
