Punches Thrown at Rally at Legislature

Punches were thrown and a 22-year-old man was arrested as a rally and counter-rally collided at the Manitoba Legislature on Saturday.

The man was arrested for obstructing a peace officer but he was later released from custody on a promise to appear in court.

A group consisting of members of Fascist Free Treaty 1, the American Indian Movement, the Crazy Indian Brotherhood, and Urban Warrior Alliance confronted a group that one of their members called a “white supremacist” group.

The confrontation turned violent, as members of both sides got involved in an altercation and began throwing fists at each other. This prompted security at the Legislature to call the police.

“There was a call for several Islamophobic, ultra-nationalist and white supremacists to hold rallies all throughout Canada,” said Omar Kinnarath, a member of the Fascist Free Treaty 1 group.

In a release to the media, Kinnarath called these rallies the ‘1 million deplorable Canadian march’. According to the group’s Facebook page, the marches were being held to protest against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The rally of the self-styled anti-fascist group started out at City Hall, where they had planned to confront what they called a “white supremacist” group. But once they realized that the group had moved to the Legislature, they moved there to confront them.

Upon arrival at the lawns of the Legislative building, the self-styled anti-fascist group far outnumbered the protestors from what they referred to as the “white supremacist” group. It was then that things turned violent, and punches were thrown from both sides.

Once tempers had been settled by the police and the legislature security, the self-styled anti-fascist group took their rally on to Broadway Street, directly in front of the Legislature. The police kept a close watch as the group waved flags and chanted.

According to a media release from Kinnarath, this is the third time in three months these types of confrontations have happened. He states that the first was on March 4 at City Hall to protest against The Canadian Coalition of Concerned Citizens. He claims this group to be a far right, anti-refugee group, and the counter protest to this group saw 300 members.

The second counter rally, according to Kinnarath’s release, came on March 19, again at City Hall. This time, another group Kinnarath claims to be on the far right, the Soldiers of Odin, organized a rally that saw 100 people there to counter their rally.

Sun/Postmedia Network

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