Counter-protest planned in response to anti-immigration rally

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This article was published 24/08/2017 (2977 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two Winnipeg anti-fascist groups put out a call Thursday, hoping to shut down a Sept. 9 “anti-Immigration” rally being organized by a Brandon man with alleged neo-Nazi sympathies.

On Wednesday, the Free Press reported Jessie Wielenga, a 30-year-old pipe fitter and vice-president of the Worldwide Coalition Against Islam — Canada, was planning to hold a rally in the Manitoba capital.

The counter-protest is being organized by Fascist Free Treaty 1 and Winnipeg Against Fascism, in tandem with representatives from the Muslim community, organized labour and student groups.

An organizer with Fascist Free Treaty 1 said he expects a few hundred people to attend the counter-protest, although he hopes more will come out to stand together against “hate and white supremacy.”

“Whether they show up or not, we will be there,” said Omar Kinnarath, 38.

“If they show up, they will see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears how this community feels about their hate. (The recent violent protests in) Charlottesville (Va.) is on everyone’s mind, so we want to make a statement that we will not have hate organizing in our city.”

The counter-protest will be held at 12 p.m. at Portage Avenue and Spence Street, although a social media post Thursday by organizers said, “Location and time maybe (sic) subject to change, and be ready to be mobile. In case they decide to change locations.”

Kinnarath said he’s surprised such a rally is planned for the city, as far-right groups have been frustrated by their lack of success in Winnipeg.

Past attempts by far-right groups to hold protests in the city have seen them at times outnumbered 20 to one, he said, adding white nationalists and neo-Nazis will face community reprisals in the form of lost jobs and divestments from their businesses should they attempt to organize in the city.

“They’re allowed to have those thoughts, but we’re allowed to decide if we want to do business with those people,” Kinnarath said.

Although Fascist Free Treaty 1 is a small group with only around a dozen organizers, Kinnarath said its support base includes hundreds of people.

When asked to respond to people who characterize “antifa” as nothing but masked thugs, he said he’d encourage those who wonder what anti-fascist groups are about to come and see for themselves.

“We’ve had antifa in Winnipeg since the 1930s. People who think this sprung up out of nowhere are wrong,” Kinnarath said. “We’re people who work at your banks. We’re at your schools. We’re your neighbours.

“People who think it’s just a bunch of masked-up millennials are wrong. That’s not what this movement is.”

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca