The Hamilton branch of a Canada-wide socialist group is accusing McMaster University's campus police of being heavy-handed in removing organizers from an event on campus last week.

However, the university says an organizer refused to identify himself and campus police only responded after being alerted to an online post that caused confusion about the library room booking.

The Socialist Fightback Hamilton group had booked a Mills Library room for an Introduction to Marxism talk Sept. 13, but organizers were met by campus police who denied them access to the room, told them to leave campus and threatened them with arrest if they returned, said Farshad Azadian, a southern Ontario organizer with Fightback.

He says they later learned someone claiming to be Proud Boys - the far-right men's organization that professes to be "western chauvinists" - posted online on Reddit that they were coming to the library room at the same time.

Then someone called the university.

McMaster University spokesperson Gord Arbeau said the room was booked using the online booking system, but a Reddit post created confusion about the booking.

"Because of that confusion, one McMaster security officer dropped by and found two people in the room," he said. "When asked, one of the people would not share his name or whether he was a McMaster student. Because he wouldn't identify himself, that person was asked to leave the campus."

Maximiliano Guerrero says he's was one of the two local activists threatened with arrest.

He was wearing a Fightback T-shirt and was carrying literature that made it clear they were not Proud Boys.

When the police asked for their identification he said he asked if he was being "carded" and if he could deny that request. Guerrero said he was told yes, so he declined to show identification.

"One of the officer's responded that I had to leave or be arrested," he said, adding that he was yelled at to not return, followed to his car and it appeared an officer photographed his vehicle as he drove away.

Both recognized clubs and McMaster students have access to book rooms, and Arbeau said student affairs has followed up with the student who booked the room to try to understand better what happened.

The Socialist Fightback-Hamilton group is not a recognized McMaster club, but has organized itself around the university since it began about 18 months ago. It includes both student and nonstudent members, with the goal of being partly a space for open discussion and part activism.

Azadian said the fact that someone or a group of people wanted to sabotage the event "highlights a more general problem" happening with right-wing populism in society right now.

"It's absolutely vital that a campus is a place where the democratic right to organize and assemble (is respected)," he said. "It's something we will not step back from ... we want to make sure that this doesn't happen again."

Fightback members are speaking with the university's Equity and Inclusion Office to resolve the issue, he said.

What remains unclear is whether Proud Boys are actually organizing at McMaster or whether the online post was simply a ruse intended to sabotage the meeting.

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Both Fightback and McMaster say they're not aware of Proud Boys on campus.

Now Fightback says it's organizing a followup event to show they won't be intimidated Tuesday night. Fightback is also organizing a contingent to attend the Hamilton District Labour Council's Shut Down Hate rally on September 30.

Socialist Fightback - Hamilton is planning another public meeting: Fight back against fascist intimidation

Date: Tuesday, Sept. 26

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: McMaster University, Burke Science Building (BSB) 105

