LIVE UPDATES: Calgary pastor charged for protesting drag queen story time in court

Pastor Derek Reimer first found himself in hot water after he was forcefully removed from a drag queen story time event he was protesting at a Calgary library.

In response to protests at these events, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek and city council enacted a bylaw restricting the right to protest near drag story time events.

Taking to Twitter, Gondek advocated for a police crackdown on protesters like Pastor Derek Reimer. Since then, Reimer has been embroiled in a legal battle. You can learn more about that story by visiting SavePastorDerek.com.

Reimer is back in court today, where Rebel reporter Angelica Toy is live tweeting the three-day hearing as it happens. Follow along below:

In court today for day 1 of the 3 day trial of Pastor Derek Reimer in Calgary of Mission 7 Ministries. He was arrested for protesting a drag queen story hour early spring of this year at Seton Public Library.

MORE: https://t.co/uBaqmdlkOQ

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Rebel News has been crowd funding his lawyer through partnership with the registered charity, the Democracy Fund (@TDF_Can). You can help us by going to https://t.co/NZPkZvhYFW.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Court is briefly adjourned while Derek’s Lawyer Ben Allison and the Crown Prosecutor take time to revise their plans.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Crown prosecutor is willing to shorten his witness list to make up for time.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Crown prosecutor is asking her questions on the layout of the library, all of her roles, as well as the Reading with Royalty Program.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Witness says that 2 people had said “religious jargon” towards the event before Derek.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Court is now on break.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Witness says that the “first intruder” sat down in what was described as the “adult seating area.” After about 1-2 minutes into the Drag Queen reading a book, “the first intruder” spoke out disturbing the event. She was pushed out by parents attending.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

After the first two “intruders,” witness describes Derek had entered the room shouting, and in a similar matter, Derek was surrounded by parents/attendees and thrown out of the room.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Court is on break until 1:30pm MST.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Second witness is now testifying.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

*To clarify, witness is a mother who brought her two children to attend the event.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Witness says she felt very scared when Derek was near the children that “he almost stepped on.”

Few minutes ago she said he had stepped on them.

Which one is it?

Pick a story.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Ben Allison who is representing Derek’s now questioning this witness.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Witness is now clarifying that Derek did in fact not step on anyone.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

This witness is saying that’s Derek was “almost physically dragged” which is different from her police statement where she said he fell down. She is also now saying she couldn’t see that Derek fell from her POV.

Seems like this is inconsistent.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Witness says that after Derek left the room he knocked on the glass door one time and was yelling.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

This witness knew about the potential protest beforehand.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Third witness is now up.

He is a supervisor at the Seton Public Library.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

After police had arrived, witness says that he complied with the police officers requests to leave but continued to shout as he left.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

The judge agreed with that comment^.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

The video of the incident has been played and is being discussed.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Court is now on break.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

Ben Allison is confirming with the witness about his initial observations that Derek was “escorted out of the room”.

Ben reaffirms his question asking if he witnessed Derek being “thrown out of the room” based on what we saw in the video.

Witness now says he doesn’t think…

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023

A two day continuation of this trial will resume on December 5th and 6th.

— Angelica (@_angelica_toy) September 20, 2023