Calgary’s police Chief Roger Chaffin said Monday that officers responding to a massive white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in which a woman protesting the rally was killed, were facing a “very, very difficult task.”
“The people are so passionate in their positions and when they bring weapons, and bring violence and bring hate in their minds, to these protests, it thrusts us into a position to have to do all we can to keep people safe and keep ourselves safe at the same time,” he said.
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Charlottesville police had faced criticism immediately following the rally as some questioned the speed at which officers responded to the violence.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe defended the police response. In an interview with the New York Times, McAuliffe said some groups had “better equipment than our state police had.” It was also noted by some observers that many of the far-right demonstrators had been seen carrying automatic guns, bats, sticks, pepper spray and other weapons.
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“When you look at what was going on down there … I believe Virginia’s an open-carry state, so you see people carrying firearms with them into these … and you can imagine the chaoticness(sic) of that event,” Chaffin said.
The fact that groups were free to carry firearms at the Charlottesville rally created an additional challenge for officers but the sentiments expressed at that rally have been echoed at similar rallies in Calgary, Mayor Naheed Nenshi said.
“These feelings exist here – in real life, not just online,” he said.
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In June, clashes broke out between members of the Worldwide Coalition against Islam (WCAI) and the Calgary Anti-Facist Action group at a rally in front of the city’s municipal building.
Nenshi said he himself has increasingly become the target of racist or Islamophobic comments on social media platforms like Twitter.
“I hate going on Twitter now,” he said.
“I think it’s really, really important that all of us, all of us every day people with our every day voices, but also those of us who are lucky enough to have a microphone or a megaphone, are continuing to speak out for what makes this community work.
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“I think it’s crucial that we do that right now because we’ve seen in too many places what happens when there is a vacuum of leadership, of public voices, that are speaking out for everyone’s right to live a good life.”
Chief Chaffin added that he recognizes the “enormity of the challenge” that was facing police in Charlottesville, Va.
“I mean, we’re worried about placards and sticks and bats and things, and they’re worried about that person carrying a semi-automatic rifle with them.”
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