Anonymous submission to North Shore
On January 31st a group called Stand United Canada called for national demonstrations against Mark Carney and the Liberal party. Instead of taking up any of the hundreds of incredibly valid criticisms against the settler Canadian government, this group chooses to scapegoat immigrants and demand mass deportations to the tune of what is playing out south of the border. To counter this demonstration, anti fascist affinity groups showed up and successfully dispersed their gathering. The following is one account of that action.
Though they seem to be lacking membership in Kingston ON, local nationalists jumped at the chance provided by Stand United to dust off their flags and rally around city hall to spew their hate speech. Early arrivals were quick to throw racist slurs at comrades who had preemptively taken up the space that they were intending to use. Forcing them to change plans and demonstrate across the road clearly had an irritating effect. Not to mention that even at their peak attendance (around twenty five protestors at 1:30pm) they were greatly outnumbered by counter protesters. Some group members tried to sympathize by stating that we too oppose Mark Carney and the Canadian government, but hit road blocks when arguing that they were falsely assigning blame to marginalized groups instead of directing their vitriol against the capitalist settler colonial system.
When their vile taunts grew more violent and intolerable, a smaller group broke off from the larger counter protest and went across the street to confront them. The Kingston Whig falsely reported that violence was instigated by the left wing attendees, but accounts from multiple people confirm that an ex military police officer Sean Izzard threw the first punch. A short scuffle followed, resulting in minor injuries. Luckily, the other men on the fascist front line immediately abandoned their fellow protestor despite posturing behind him, and he was quickly overwhelmed and brought to his knees by several of our allies. Things cooled off quickly when two police cruisers pulled up, though we didn’t retreat back across the street to regroup until it was confirmed that Izzard was carrying a knife. At least half of the right wing group began to disperse at this point.
Throughout the demonstration the same individual bragged about his time spent murdering abroad with the Canadian armed forces, and after the physical altercation threatened another comrade by saying “I already got you on the fucking ground, you’d be lucky if you’re fucking breathing by the end of it. I’m a trained fucking combat fucking killer. I’ve killed a lot of fucking people. You think I’m afraid to fucking put you out?” (this interaction was filmed and the quote verbatim). He crossed over to our side of the street again several times but was sent back repeatedly by folks carrying banners and yelling into his face with megaphones until eventually he stormed away from the demonstration.
Counter protesters gleefully counted down the group as their numbers dwindled, and after the weapon had left the scene were quick to take the other side of the street again. At this point the Stand United group had all but stopped demonstrating yet refused to leave. Their signs were stolen and destroyed along with their morale. By the time the final four walked off they were played out by a comrade carrying a loudspeaker, as others sang ‘Bella Ciao’. The action was deemed a heartening success by those present.