Antifa demonstrators who claimed to be marching to “stop the hate” of anti-Islamic extremist groups turned their anger towards police and media Saturday in Toronto.
The radical left groups came to the city’s Nathan Phillips Square even though the rally they had planned to protest had been cancelled, the Toronto Sun reported.
With no opponents to heckle, the demonstrators decided to focus their anger on Toronto police and news media present — particularly the Sun and its reporter on-scene, Sue-Anne Levy. As Levy described it, “Another group of leftist lesbians also followed me calling me a disgrace to the LGBT community while others chanted loudly, ‘Sue-Ann Levy is a racist,’ and ‘Racist Media off our streets…’”
The Sun also said its photographer, Stan Behal, was assaulted by Antifa members who said he was “f***ing harassing” the marchers by taking pictures. The police reportedly looked on and did nothing when Behal was attacked.
On the first anniversary of the Charlottesville riots, the local chapter of the Worldwide Coalition Against Islam had planned to stage a demonstration in Toronto. But after the city’s mayor and others criticized the idea, organizers called off the rally.
Despite the insistence from Muslim speaker Azeezah Kanji that Saturday’s counter-protest against a cancelled event was a “wish for peace” that signaled “lover for everything,” the demonstrators were soon showering the police and media with anything but love.
They carried signs that read “No Justice, No Peace, F*** the Police” and appeared to be looking for “fascists” in the watching crowd. At one point, according to the Sun, the Antifa activists screamed “fascist” at one observer and ran towards him.