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Christie Pits in Toronto has a storied history when it comes to demonstrations.

For example, in 1933, this park was the site of the infamous Christie Pits riot.

That was a brawl that broke out between Nazi supporters and Jewish and Italian youths and their allies after a swastika was displayed during a baseball game.

Here’s how The Canadian Encyclopedia chronicled the hatred that erupted on Aug. 16, 1933: “It remains one of the worst outbreaks of ethnic violence in Canadian history with over 10,000 participants and spectators. The riot was sparked by Nazi-inspired youth flying a swastika flag at a public baseball game to antagonize and provoke Jewish Canadians… The brawl soon escaped the confines of the ballpark. Improvised weapons, baseball bats and lead pipes were used. Truckloads of reinforcements arrived from surrounding neighbourhoods to support both sides. Italians and other immigrants long persecuted by the Anglo majority fought alongside the Jews.”

More than 90 years later, another demonstration took place at Christie Pits on Saturday that was met with a counterdemonstration. But in the department of perverse irony, it was the fascists — i.e., the Antifa thugs — who used intimidation and even physical violence to shut down a peaceful protest.

And the protest, organized by Joe Anidjar, the founder of Canada First, was indeed a valid one thanks to reckless immigration policies brought in after a decade of Liberal rule.

Anidjar and his allies were taking a stand against the mismanaged mass immigration that's straining Canada’s social systems, including housing, healthcare and employment. Then there’s the thorny issue of illegal aliens being welcomed into Canada. And the temporary foreign worker program is being used to actually discriminate against Canadian citizens in the labour market. Simply put, the immigration file is in desperate need of a fix.

But for the leftists who reside in “sanctuary city” Hogtown, merely voicing valid concerns about immigration is akin to spewing racism.

Kooky Toronto City Councillor Dianne Saxe and the unhinged former NDP MP Charlie Angus denounced the Canada First rally — even before it occurred. They called it a “hate demonstration”.

That was an odd descriptor given that it was the Antifa types and a smattering of Hamasholes who were the ones spewing hateful rhetoric — and throwing haymakers. Say, whatever happened to that old leftist mantra of “love trumps hate”?

But the Marxists and the Islamists coming together makes perfect sense given they share elements of the same ideology. Both camps are anti-western values and anti-democracy. How odd that the worst nations on the planet are those ruled under communism or sharia law. But never mind…

Within minutes of setting up at Christie Pits, the Canada First demonstrators were forced out of the park by the Antifa types. Luckily, a large police presence was on hand to escort them down to Yonge Dundas Square. That’s where the duelling demonstrations continued under the watchful eye of law enforcement.

And talk about a tale of two demonstrations. The Canada First people were civil, unmasked, nonviolent and waving Canadian flags. As for the counterdemonstration? The precise opposite was true. And perhaps the most shameful moment of the day was when the Marxists and the Islamists booed the playing of O’ Canada as they displayed the middle finger. Talk about ingrates.

The events of Saturday suggest that the left continues to embrace fear and intimidation tactics, even after the grotesque assassination of Charlie Kirk last week.

And espousing valid concerns about immigration makes the left label such people as racists, Nazis, fascists, and white supremacists.

But consider the facts of the matter. A study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in June came to the following conclusion: “By overseeing one of the most dramatic immigration surges of modern times, Canada has cratered housing affordability, kneecapped productivity and concealed the true state of its economic growth.”

But then again, for the Marxists and Islamists using fear and intimidation tactics and violence to carry out their censorious agenda, they don’t care about economic growth. We would wager the lion’s share of those people are on social assistance — provided to them by a country they hate.