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News > World

Quebec Police Protect Far Right Group Against Anti-Fascists

  • Jaggi Singh, who was participating in the counter-protest, was arrested.

    Jaggi Singh, who was participating in the counter-protest, was arrested. | Photo: Radio-Canada

Published 21 August 2017
Opinion

Police in riot gear pushed back counter-protesters who'd gathered to demonstrate against Le Meute's racist rally.

Stunned anti-fascists protesters, having been hustled aside by police after authorities declared their protest to be illegal, looked on as far-right La Meute, or Wolf Pack, members emerged from a parking garage in Quebec City, Canada, and were allowed to march and freely spread their anti-immigrant message through the streets.

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"We are demonstrating an islamophobic, racist group called La Meute, less than 7 months after the Quebec City massacre," said Jaggi Singh, one of the organizers of the counter-demonstration. "One of the principal groups that increased the climate of fear against the Muslims is attempting to demonstrate."

Police in riot gear pushed back counter-protesters who'd gathered to demonstrate against Le Meute's rally behind Quebec's National Assembly, with Singh being arrested according to reports. Authorities had furnished Le Meute with a permit to march, according to CTV News.

The right-wing group met in an underground parking garage for their march. But anti-fascist counter-demonstrators moved to block the entrances to keep the racists from taking the street, but police moved in to allow the group to march.

Le Meute, which recently allegedly suspended one of its members for his involvement in deadly protests in Charlottesville are fiercely against what they deem as being illegal immigration, according to CTV News.

Their sentiment coincides with a staunch Quebec nationalism that harbors decades of anti-Haitian immigration and, more recently, anti-Muslim sentiment. As recent as October 2016, Quebec's parliament renewed debate about imposing a burqa ban, which would have also denied public services to anyone wearing a face covering, according to the Guardian.

In late January 2017, Alexandre Bissonnette, a 27-year old Laval University student, stormed into the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec City and opened fire on worshipers. Six people were killed and 19 others were injured.

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Between Aug. 1 and 15, the Royal Canadian Mountain Police indicate that 3,800 asylum seekers were intercepted at the Quebec border.

Sylvain Brouillette, Le Meute's chief spokesperson, stated, “We think the RCMP should be upholding the law, not carrying the suitcases of illegal immigrants.”

The sudden upsurge in asylum seekers fleeing anti-immigration policies in the United States and arriving at Quebec's border has prompted what used to be Le Meute's mainly online presence to real-world demonstrations.

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