Protester assaulted while disrupting Liberal Party of Canada’s Christmas gathering in Victoria (VIDEO)

On Saturday, December 9th, a group of protesters calling for a permanent ceasefire in Palestine attended a Christmas party held by members of the Liberal Party of Canada in which they were forcibly removed from the property.

The party was held in Saanich for three south island electoral districts’ volunteers. The group of protesters say they had RSVP’d to the event as it was open to the public. 

The interaction was filmed live and posted on Instagram by an account dedicated to mutual aid in Victoria.

In this video, the person believed to be the host used explicit and misogynistic slurs toward the protesters. He can be seen physically assaulting one person who was attempting to read aloud the names of those who have died as a result of Israel’s genocidal attacks upon the Gaza region. 

There are three videos within the following Instagram post: 

Rick Baker, who was named in the above Instagram post, says that although the Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke Electoral District Association (EDA) was invited to the party where this incident occurred, their EDA did not plan the occasion.

Baker also noted that he was not in attendance at the event and has since received emails in the hundreds that are misinformed, believing him to be the perpetrator of the alleged assault.

“I’d be hard pressed to think that any of our members would condone any of the violence happening to, and the loss of Jewish and Palestinian life,” said Baker.

Victoria Buzz spoke with a witness of the altercation, who asked to be identified simply as Emily for the sake of their personal security, who said that the intention of the protesters who arrived at the public event was not to provoke violence. 

“This was a peaceful speech,” said Emily. “I was asked to witness, but as soon as [the protester reading the martyrs’ names] started speaking, this person claiming to be the property owner grabbed them by the back of their jacket.”

Emily said all in attendance followed his directions to leave the property, but despite this, he would not let go of the protester he had grabbed until they had crossed the property line. 

“I was really shocked as a witness to see how everyone else at the party was just a complicit bystander in this person’s violence,” Emily explained. 

“The person making the speech did not get very far, as you can see in the video. Almost immediately after they began, they were physically shoved out of the building.”

Everyone else who was in attendance seemed to calmly witness what was going on, no one spoke up or protested this violent man’s behaviour.”

Following this protest, those who posted the video are calling on people to email their electoral district’s Liberal Party of Canada representative to call for action, the individual who physically removed the protesters to be identified and demoted in their ranks as well as the federal endorsement of a permanent ceasefire in Palestine. 

“We were there with the purpose of delivering a peaceful speech, demanding that Justin Trudeau calls for a ceasefire, and raising awareness that Israel has been sent $21 million worth of weaponry and support by the Canadian government in 2022,” Emily stated. 

“We are disgusted that Justin Trudeau is refusing to call for a ceasefire in the genocide in Palestine.”

Victoria Buzz also reached out to the Liberal Party of Canada who would not provide an interview, but stated that “The incident that you reference has been brought to our attention and the party is reviewing the matter.”