Emergency Counter Demonstration Called to Oppose Far-Right
Only a Handful of Far-Right Present
On the steps of Montreal City Hall on March 19—surrounded by a large police presence— anti-fascist activists were steadfastly waiting. They arrived over an hour earlier to shut down a demonstration organized by the Canadian Coalition of Concerned Citizens.
This article has been updated.
A week before the demonstration, the CCCC had put a call out saying it would be postponed until May 21. Their original Facebook event remained online, however.
The CCCC is a far-right group opposed to Motion 103, which is currently being debated in Parliament. It aims to officially condemn Islamophobia, and collect data on hate crimes against Muslims in the House of Commons. It’s acceptance will be voted on March 22. The group opposes M-103 because they say it will give rise to jihadism in Canada.
The Facebook event for the counter demonstration had been created the day before by Resist Trump Montreal, a group opposed to the rise of the far-right and Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies.
Debates broke out between protesters. At one point an argument got so heated that riot police intervened, removing two far-right-wingers from the crowd and asking them to leave.
CCCC had organised a similar demonstration on March 4, also in front of Montreal City Hall, where around 150 far-right protesters from La Meute and CCCC clashed with about 250 anti-fascists demonstrators, many with Action Anti-Fasciste Montreal.
La Meute is a Quebec far-right group. They’re opposed to multiculturalism and what they call the “islamisation of Québec.” There are about 43,000 members in their Facebook group.
The early March demonstration marked the first time in recent memory that far-right groups managed to march in the streets of Montreal along side police escort.
A previous iteration of this article implied that the far-right was losing momentum due pressure from the opposition. It also misinterpreted a quote from Eamon Toohey, an organizer with Resist Trump Montreal. The headline also implied that counter-protestors were defending M-103. The Link regrets this error.
1_600_375_90_s_c1.jpg)
