Police crack down on peaceful protesters at Calgary's freedom rally

Police cracked down on peaceful protesters this weekend in Calgary after the city, led by Mayor Jyoti Gondek, applied for a court injunction limiting the ability of protesters to gather.

Here's the injunction https://t.co/bzlp502AIL pic.twitter.com/G90miENarA

— Syd Fizzard 🍁 (@SydFizzard) March 19, 2022

This didn't stop the protests however, and even though Calgary Police put out a warning for peaceful protesters not to attend the downtown area, at least a thousand freedom rally protesters came out advocate for their freedoms, which continue to be thwarted by vaccine mandates and other restrictions brought on by the so-called pandemic.

Police move in to clear the roadway outside city hall where freedom rally protesters gather.

Full report soon at https://t.co/69LmwLvY5f pic.twitter.com/CjOIQ8b6FR

— Syd Fizzard 🍁 (@SydFizzard) March 19, 2022

Instead of aiming to create chaos and competition between themselves and the counter protest group that sparked police engagement in the week previous, freedom rally protesters set their sights to city hall to protest the injunction, on top of what they currently advocate for.

Calgary freedom rally changes course, heads to city hall instead of regular route.

Full report soon at https://t.co/69LmwLvY5f pic.twitter.com/jVNk3JtupJ

— Syd Fizzard 🍁 (@SydFizzard) March 19, 2022

Upon the protest's end, it was slated that they would return to Central Memorial Park, and many made their way back over although this was the time where many had dispersed. Once freedom rally protesters returned to Central Memorial Park, a counter protest was discovered to have impeded on the freedom rally protesters usual grounds.

A bigger group of counter protesters gathered at memorial park, where the anti mandate protest began. pic.twitter.com/5XA48sxO2y

— K2 (@kiansimone44) March 19, 2022

In a moments notice, an incident broke out between a group of individuals, causing police to engage in crowd control. This sparked the clearing of the park via police enforcement.

Fight broke out between ‘freedom rally’ and Antifa in Calgary.

Multiple people were arrested from both sides. The Memorial Park is under total police control now.

Small number of protesters are still here but the violence has died out. Check out https://t.co/Apz9xO8v9h for more pic.twitter.com/v4eQQruzmU

— Mocha Bezirgan (@BezirganMocha) March 19, 2022

Police have pushed anti mandate protesters out of the park to the sidewalk. pic.twitter.com/UEE21DSQCz

— K2🍁🚛 (@kiansimone44) March 19, 2022

This escalation of events may have been sparked by a confrontation between individuals within both groups, in our report we see individuals, some clad in Antifa attire, beating an individual to the ground. This situation was caused by an originally meek response by Calgary Police, who — instead of separating the two groups — pushed them into each other, and did not create a formidable separation between the two groups. This failed attempt at crowd control led the police to take drastic action, which we saw unfold in the form of a police line that pushed everyone off the park grounds indiscriminately.