Canada Global (Web News) At a transphobic demonstration that took place outside a Calgary high school on Wednesday, two persons were detained.
Josh Alexander, a teenager from Ontario, led the protest on the grounds of Western Canada High School in the 600 block of 17 Avenue S.W. He had previously opposed the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board’s decision to permit transgender students to use bathrooms in accordance with their gender identity.
The event was also sponsored by the ultra-conservative True Dominion Canada, which is run by Nathaniel Pawlowski, the son of Calgary street preacher Artur Pawlowski.
Transphobic and homophobic comments were included on the protest poster, which claimed that “radical gender ideology” was “sexualizing children.”
A group of counter-protesters, some of whom are high school kids, greeted Nathaniel and Josh both.
Around 80 people attended the demonstration, a Calgary Police Service representative told Global News, though attendance varied throughout the day.
A confrontation between “several individuals of opposing views,” according to the police, resulted in the detention of two people, who were later freed without being charged.
No other “physical altercations” occurred before the protest concluded at around 1 p.m., according to officers who claimed to have sought to keep the protestors and the counter-protesters apart.
The two people detained by police were either protestors or counter-protesters, according to the police.
“The Calgary Police Service respects everyone’s right to peaceful assembly and expression guaranteed by the Charter. The overarching goal is to collaborate with all parties to uphold orderly conduct, peace, and the protection of the general public and police officers,” according to a statement from the CPS sent to Global News via email.
