On Sunday, September 20th, an anti-racist demonstration was met with hostilities from counter-protestors in Red Deer at Rotary Recreation Park. Videos of an alleged assault that took place at the event is making waves on social media.

The incident occurred prior to RCMP arriving as protestors attended earlier than they anticipated. When officers arrived, they were informed of the incident but instead focused their intent on de-escalating the situation between the two groups at odds.

“You have to imagine that the whole situation was extremely volatile when we arrived there. Our officers probably had to make a decision as to what was more important at the time the one incident that happened perhaps 10 minutes earlier, or what was going on between two groups at that time and they chose to deal the situation at that time,” explained Superintendent, Gerald Grobmeier.

Superintendent, Gerald Grobmeier speaks about the incident at the anti-racism demonstration on September 22nd at the Red Deer South Detachment.

A week prior to this demonstration, an anti-racist news release was also met with verbally aggressive counter-protesters outside of the Ponoka RCMP detachment.

As the video of the assault surfaced, and other incidents became known to the Alberta RCMP, an investigation was started on Monday, September 21st, 2020. Mounties are asking those who witnessed the incident to speak up and provide a statement.

“The RCMP always respects citizens’ rights to peaceful demonstration. However, we share the community's concerns and are extremely disturbed by the behaviour depicted in the video, and we never condone acts of violence. The Red Deer RCMP is investigating this matter to determine if criminal charges can be laid. However, at this point the investigation, we need more information,” explained Grobmeier.

The Superintendent was joined by Red Deer Mayor, Tara Veer who denounced the video hoping to see justice properly served.

“During the adverse times that we all find ourselves navigating in together we cannot allow the despicable actions of a few to characterize our city,” added Veer.

Veer was in conversations with Minister of Justice, Kaycee Madu who issued a response to the incident prior to the event.

“As Minister of Justice, I have been publicly clear about this. Violence and threats of violence at peaceful protests are unacceptable. Period. All Albertans – regardless of race, religion or creed – have the right to live their lives peacefully. I denounce any instance of bigotry and intolerance, and I have said I will not tolerate this as Justice Minister and Solicitor General,” said Madu.

If you have information regarding the alleged assault that took place on Sunday, September 20, 2020 at Rotary Recreation Park, you are asked to call the Red Deer General Investigation Section at 403-406-2300. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or provide information online at www.P3Tips.com.

Video of the incident is avilable below

WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE. Video courtesy of Jeremy Russell.