The Alberta government recognized two Red Deer students Monday at the legislature for standing up to anti-immigration protesters outside of their high school last week.
Education Minister David Eggen invited Ursella Khan and Thomas Gower to the legislature for a meeting and to be introduced in the house.
Around 40 people showed up at the parking lot of Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School in Red Deer last week to protest, including an anti-Muslim group called Worldwide Coalition Against Islam and another group called Soldiers of Odin.
READ MORE: Video of fight with Syrian, Canadian students sparks protest at Alberta school
The protest happened after video was posted on social media of a fight between a small group of Syrian and Canadian students.
The scuffle outside Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School on May 16 attracted online comments accusing the immigrants of whipping students and accusing school officials of not disciplining the Syrians.
Principal Dan Lower said all the students involved in the fight – four Syrians and four Canadians – were suspended for one week.
“From that video a post was put on Facebook and was sent around stating that the Syrians are allowed to go around whipping Canadians and that is because of their religious beliefs,” Lower said.
“That is the genesis behind this outrage. And that is simply not the case.”
WATCH: rdnewsNOW posted raw video of school officials speaking with protesters unhappy with their handling of a fight that took place on school grounds last week
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RCMP Const. Derek Turner said the dispute was nothing more than a typical school fight that started with a Syrian and a Canadian student getting into a verbal dispute at a skateboard park off campus.
Other students became involved over a number of days. That resulted in two fights, one of which was captured on the video posted online.
Shortly after the protesters left the parking lot last week, some Syrian students began playing soccer with other students and the game slowly grew to about 25 people, including two RCMP officers.
More to come…
With files from The Canadian Press
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