Ezra Levant and journalists like Anna Slatz document Antifa’s 2020 North American escalation—peaceful George Floyd protests violently hijacked by masked rioters throwing rocks, burning buildings, and defacing memorials in D.C., while Toronto’s City Hall encampment barred press access despite public space rights. Robert Warner, charged with assaulting reporters, denies Antifa’s destructive tactics, calling journalists "fascists." Levant’s legal pushback highlights Canada’s weaker free speech protections compared to the U.S., framing press restrictions as a slippery slope toward authoritarianism while rallying support for a journalist defense fund. [Automatically generated summary]
Hey, today's show is a great one, but boy, I wish you had the video for it.
It's the best of the Rebels' coverage of Antifa.
To get the video version of the podcast, simply go to RebelNews.com and become a premium subscriber.
We call it Rebel News Plus.
It's the videos.
All right, here's today's show.
Tonight, a very special episode, the best of the rebel and our coverage of Antifa.
It's July 22nd, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.
Why should others go to jail when you're the biggest carbon consumer I know?
There's 8,500 customers here, and you don't give them an answer.
The only thing I have to say is government.
But why?
It's because it's my bloody right to do so.
Well, we've been watching Antifa for years.
They were very active in Europe and in the UK, but in North America, they weren't really a force.
We've all heard of Black Lives Matter and Idle No More.
Well, 2020 was the year of Antifa riots.
And today's special, Best of the Rebel, shows our coverage of Antifa.
Take a look.
It's Anna Slatz.
I am live in Washington, D.C. for Rebel News.
I am covering the second day of George Floyd protests and Antifa riots.
Today, police gave protesters three minutes between warnings, and on the third warning, they advanced extremely fast.
They started firing rubber bullets, tear gas, and flash bombs into the crowd at very, very close range.
And they've been advancing ever since, uh, rushing the crowd, grabbing whoever they can, arresting them.
In quite brutal ways, these were just, even standard buys, I think, were caught up in it, even media.
And as you can see, the protesters are just not relenting.
They are continuing to keep their hands raised.
And they have been absorbing all of the shocks.
We are not a threat!
We are not afraid!
We are not afraid of peace!
Hi, guys, it's Anna Slatz, and I'm here in Washington, D.C., where I have been covering the George Floyd protests and Antifa riots for Rebel News.
I just wanted to go over some of my thoughts because last night was the first night I was here on the ground and it was crazy, to say the least.
But when the night started, it was very peaceful.
And I have been trying to focus on why such a peaceful, coherent, considerate demonstration of anger devolved into violence and destruction and fires and smashed windows and businesses being looted.
And I want to say that that occurred, that transition from peace to chaos, occurred when a largely white group of Antifa protesters began to call the shots in the demonstration.
Around 6 p.m., when the Black Lives Matter protesters were marching on the Capitol, it was all very peaceful.
It was very well put together.
People were being taken care of, given food, given water, given medical treatment if they needed it.
And the air was positive.
It was upbeat.
It was people expressing themselves in the democratic way that they have the ability to express themselves, that they have the right to express themselves.
And that is through a peaceful demonstration, a peaceful protest, expressing their anger at the treatment of African Americans in the United States.
It was not until 10 p.m. that things started to devolve into chaos.
And that is when the Antifa protesters showed up and they began setting fires.
They began burning buildings.
They began defacing war memorials.
I'm actually just outside of one right now that's being taken care of by the police.
There was such a distinct difference between the approaches of Black Lives Matter and Antifa that much of it I caught right on film, people being told by the Black Lives Matter protesters, stop throwing things at the police, stop interacting with the police.
This is going to lead to more violence.
This is going to lead to more innocent people getting hurt.
And of course that would disproportionately impact the African Americans that were in the protest.
The white Antifa protesters continued and persisted to destroy, to throw bottles at the police, to throw bottles at the police cars, to throw rocks and stones.
And it was an escalation, a very steady escalation.
The police began to respond with more and more violence of their own.
More flash grenades, more pepper sprayed, more batons, and even someone got a rubber bullet.
He was standing right next to me and he got hit with a rubber bullet.
I want you to take a look at the footage and I want you to ask yourself if you can see the difference between the approaches of Black Lives Matter who were out there protesting the wrongful death of George Floyd and the approach of Antifa who were destroying needlessly, who were not listening to the Black Lives Matter protesters who were meant to be leading the demonstration and who were just causing chaos for absolutely no reason.
The general sentiment here in Washington, D.C. is that these protests are going to continue.
You can see to both sides of me behind me that there are businesses that are putting plywood up.
They are covering their windows.
They are covering their doors because the general sense here is that it's going to escalate.
The riots are going to escalate in the same way that they did in Oakland, in Atlanta, and in Minneapolis.
I'm going to be on the ground tonight, just like last night, bringing you coverage right from the front lines.
This has been Anna Slatz reporting live from Washington, D.C. for Rebel News.
I'm here in Innisvale today where a protest is planned, a Black Lives Matter protest, backed by Antifa, as they tend to be across North America.
Riots and Racism00:11:30
The community here in Innisvale is anxious.
They're concerned and they're worried that one, violence could break out, as it tends to do.
In Edmonton, they smashed the window of a cop car, left graffiti everywhere.
Some businesses, just on the drive in here, we've seen that their windows are all shuttered.
They have no idea how to respond to this because it's bullying at the end of the day.
These folks are coming in from large cities to tell the people of Innisvale that they are racist.
That's obviously not true.
I've spoken with the minority groups here in Innisfail, and they've told me that they love it here.
The people are the nicest people that they've ever met, and they've never once experienced racism.
But that's not going to stop the radicals with Black Lives Matter to come into this community to intimidate them and try to re-educate them.
Are you from Innisville?
I'm not.
I'm from Calgary.
Okay, drove in for the party.
Absolutely.
Okay.
Could you give me an example of police brutality in Innisvale?
I'm actually not going to talk to any media today.
I'm sorry.
That's just not something.
There's lots of media and people talking to media over there.
As far as my quote on anything, I'm not going to give one.
Well, you're at a protest.
What's your point here, if not to spread your message?
I'm here to show support.
That's all.
To stop police brutality in the town of Innisfail with 7,000 people.
To stop police brutality in general.
Are you here to support the rally?
Yes.
Okay.
Would you be able to give me any examples of you racist piece of shit?
Get the f out of here, you f ⁇ ing.
Are you Nazi?
not a nazi do you have an example of of racism or police brutality here in innisfil yeah I don't know.
I don't know if anything's happened in Innisfil, but I do know there were threats against a small little group.
Are you okay with that?
I really don't care.
It's just you that has a stick of their butt.
I've lived here for almost 22 years now, and I haven't seen any of them.
I've seen shitty people.
Holy macro white people, I've never seen racism.
No, but.
So, like, I've lived in Innisfil my entire life, or like, just west of town, and then recently I've lived in town now.
I've never seen racism.
I have a lot of, I probably know 50 Syrian refugees about, well, they're from Syria, then they went to Lebanon, now they're in Canada.
But they've been here for about two years, some longer, some of it shorter.
One guy worked at Tim Hortons for about a year and a half, and I've asked him, like, have you ever experienced racism?
He's like, no, he's like, I've never, yeah, his first name is Muhammad, and he's never experienced racism.
He's like, I've met shitty people, but like, every service job, you have shitty people.
He's like, there's shitty white people or shitty black people.
What do you think the reason is for these radicals to come into this community to re-educate you?
Why did they pick Innisfil?
Well, Brittany Beauvais, she made a post on Facebook about doing the protest, and then I forget exactly what happened.
I got denied or something.
Yeah, there's a lot of blacklash.
She canceled.
Yeah.
And then it got trendy on Twitter and now everyone's here.
And I'm just like wondering, like there's quite an old population in Innisfil here.
Like there's an old folks home on the south end of town.
Like why are we exposing everyone to COVID right now?
Like it is a problem.
You think it's selfish?
Maybe.
There's an argument for it to be selfish and unselfish.
I think there's a lot of police brutality.
There's seen a lot of...
Here in Innisfil, though, have...
Have you seen an example of police brutality, honestly?
I have not.
No, no, no, I'm not counterproductive, I'm just here because of, I'm just, yeah.
This is the, this is the.
This is their town.
It doesn't matter.
And if it's their town, I'm allowed to come here anytime.
What?
Yeah.
I didn't hear you control.
Yeah, you don't have to hear.
Could you explain what brought you?
My name's Kian.
From With Home.
I'm from Calgary.
I'm from Calgary, too.
Nice to meet you.
Yeah.
So you're telling me I'm not allowed to come here because he lives here?
You don't say that.
Yeah, you just said it like two minutes ago.
I was just wondering why.
You're saying.
Why did you pick Innisfail?
Why did you pick Innisfil?
Because we can.
Because you can.
Yeah.
You came here to re-educate these people specifically.
I can't add that any way I want to.
How are you re-educating other people to assert that black lives matter?
That's not the message here.
That's not what people are saying here.
They're saying that people here in Innisfail are specifically racist.
I haven't heard anything.
Are you from Innisfail?
I'm not giving you any information.
I'm sure you're not from Innisfail or else you wouldn't be protesting here.
If you are against state repression, you are anti-fuck.
We are not an organization.
We do not have a leader.
We have an ideology that says wherever fascism raises its head, we will be there to confront it.
What brings you out here, sir, to this protest?
It's our f ⁇ ing land.
I couldn't hear you.
You sounded concealed, but there's a f ⁇ ing land, boss.
Yeah, you haven't picked my f ⁇ ing right yet.
Oh, are you anti-fu security?
What's with your John Wayne hat?
Oh, I think it's after John Wayne.
Stupid.
You're with Russian.
Yeah, how you doing, sir?
Oh, why are you telling me to get the FFP?
Don't fing approach me.
Stay six feet away from me.
That's not six feet.
Get away.
Sir, it's two meters.
How dare you use the imperial system?
Get the f away from me.
Okay, then.
Why do I have to get away from you?
This is a public sidewalk.
I like you very much.
Just go home.
That's why.
Wait, really?
How am I a fascist exactly?
My grandfather spent five and a half years in the World War II fighting the Nazis.
You're not your grandfather.
Well, yeah, that is true, but what did your grandfather do to fight fascism?
Get f ⁇ ed, you f ⁇ ing moron.
Is that how you respond to a question with profanity?
You can't articulate yourself, sir?
His grandfather was probably hiding under the bed.
So guys, how would you rank this Antifa rally so far, man?
I don't know.
It seems a little low energy, though.
I mean, I'm glad there's no violence, but...
This is the river territory, though.
Oh, sorry, ma'am.
What is the welder trying to say to you there?
The what?
The man in the welding mask.
It's my boyfriend.
He has a lot to say.
Is he telling you not to talk to me?
No, I'm just saying that she needs to put on her mask on.
I can barely hear you through all the layers of PPE, sir.
That's okay, it's alright.
What brings you out here?
You.
Really?
Gee, how'd you know I was coming here?
That's pretty impressive surveillance.
Yeah, it's true.
You wear a lot of badges.
No smoking.
Let's see.
Canada 150.
Chew on this.
Be vaccine educated.
Black lives members.
Black Lives Matter.
No.
That's why we're here.
Do you know what?
That's a very profound point, ma'am, because I don't see many black people here at all.
I think I see one person.
Why is that?
Why aren't members of the black community here?
Because this is not a Black Lives Matter event.
It's a grassroots event.
Hey, ma'am, what brings you out to this protest?
No, you're a fool.
Did you hear me?
I'm sorry.
What brings you out to this protest?
I'm not going to give your trashy rag a talking piece.
Fuck off.
You are a cartoon, my friend.
Wow, that seemed like cartoon.
Keep your distance from me.
Keep your distance from me.
Can't you articulate your point?
Not to you.
I'll happily talk to you online.
You can message the event page.
I'm one of the organizers.
Why would you want to talk online?
We're right here.
These people.
I don't want you near me.
And I don't like your organization.
Are you Antifa?
I'm anti-fascist.
Why do you use fascists?
Why do you use fascist tactics and claim to be Antifa?
Who used the tactics?
You don't know who I am.
Why are your comrades in the U.S. burning down black mom paw business?
Why do you know who I am?
You don't know who I am.
Why did you say my comrades?
Well, that's what the press release said.
You're standing in solidarity with your USA comrades.
We're in solidarity with people being arrested right now in the state.
How does burning down mom-paw black businesses stop putting your position on me?
I'm asking a question.
I'm not making an opinion.
You keep saying you.
You say you as if you know who I am.
You don't know who I am.
I'm doing something.
Okay, fair enough.
How do American anti-fascist members burning down mom-paw black businesses?
How does that bring about social justice?
What the fuck does that have to do with anything?
Who am I?
You don't know who I am.
You keep asking me a question as if I'm related to them.
I'm not related to them.
Well, you have an opinion, don't you?
I have an opinion.
I have an opinion that fascists like you are the enemy.
What makes me a fascist, ma'am?
Are you with these guys?
No, I'm just a journalist covering this, actually.
With rebel media?
Yeah, we know their history.
You know, it's kind of funny.
My grandfather spent five and a half years fighting the Nazis in the Second World War.
My two, both of them.
Thank you for your service.
Both of my sides of the family escaped the Nazis.
I'm Jewish.
I'm married to a Jewish woman, so how does that...
That's great.
That's a joke.
That's interesting.
Oh, yeah.
I know a black guy too.
Now I'm in Kingston because as you can see behind me there is a anti-colonialism protest.
It's kind of funny.
The motto of Kingston, Ontario is where history and innovation thrive.
But it seems that the people here are keen on canceling history, such as our cancel culture.
As a matter of fact, you can see a big red poster.
It says make history topple colonialism.
And it's showing a statue being toppled.
Now, I would say that's a major job here, if that's what the plan is today, to actually tear down this statue.
But I have noticed that throughout the crowd, they are distributing eggs.
And excuse me, ma'am.
No, we're not doing right now.
Oh, why is that?
What makes me a racist, man?
Okay, we need to mind your own words because I just don't know what to do.
Don't touch me.
Do not touch me.
You do not touch the camera.
You said we're racist.
Why is that?
And you use a lot of bad language.
Not very ladylike language, I must say.
I'm not a fucking lady.
Get out of here.
Oh, okay, then.
What about yourself, ma'am?
You were saying something as well, I believe.
I said that I thought your speech was offensive and inaccurate.
Oh, it was a what?
What did I get wrong?
Kingston's motto is not where history innovation is.
Do you believe that removing a statue removes history?
What would you call it?
I would say that we're no longer celebrating a racist creep.
The history doesn't.
Time to go.
What are you pouring water on?
Excuse me.
Time to go.
Time to go.
As you can see, these people.
It's a park.
It's a public park.
Do not push us.
Time to go.
Do not push us.
We're making our way out.
Okay, good.
Get your boy out.
Get your boy out.
You're going to get egged.
Get out.
What are you going to threaten me by throwing an egg at me, sir?
No, Mr. Egg.
Get out of here.
It's a public park.
Whoa.
Let's move over.
Oh, you're a tough guy behind that mask, aren't you?
Get out.
Oh, and you too.
Get out.
Huh?
Is this your idea?
Let's go.
Get this boy.
I'm going to lose that camera, kid.
I'm going to lose it.
Go.
Go.
This is.
Public Park Dispute00:12:37
Hey.
Don't touch me.
Don't touch me.
What are you going to do?
What am I going to do?
Let's go.
Let's move over.
What makes us a racist?
What makes us a racist?
You can't even articulate yourself.
Okay, so as you saw, we had Gatorade splashed on our bodies and our equipment.
We were pushed.
We were shoved.
I took a bottle off my forehead.
And you might be wondering in the aftermath just who was that masked man?
Well, you know what, folks?
I've got some good news.
We know his name now.
The alleged assailant is 30-year-old Robert Warner.
Just a few days ago, police charged Mr. Warner, and the charges are assault with a weapon and mischief/slash obstruct property under $5,000.
He was later released on conditions, and he is scheduled to appear in court at a later date.
I somehow think Mr. Warner, without his mask on and without 200 anti-FOD types surrounding him, isn't going to demonstrate the kind of bravado he demonstrated in the park that day.
Well, it was not bravado.
It was outright bullying.
It was a mob reacting to a couple of individuals practicing journalism.
I love you!
I love you!
Don't run away from love!
Uh-oh, don't run away from love.
I'm covering one minute.
Sir?
Yeah.
What are you?
What's your purpose here?
I'm a cameraman.
Can I stop?
Are you going to stop me instead of them trying to stop you?
I'm asking you.
I can't.
I don't have to.
I don't have to provide you anything.
Okay, well, just like they don't have to provide anything to you.
I'm not harassing them.
They're bothering me.
Can you please stop?
No.
We just came here to see what's going on.
You guys are getting violent right away.
We evolved through love and diversity.
We do.
We evolved through love and diversity.
We do.
We evolved through love and diversity.
Folks, welcome to John Torrey's Toronto.
Hey, get off me.
Don't slap my hand away.
Don't stop the camera.
Don't slap my hand away.
I'm going to threaten you.
What do you mean?
Huh?
I will trespass you for non-compliance.
I need you to stay back.
So this isn't probably the best time to be coming here and doing this.
I understand what you're trying to do.
So for today, City Hall Security and their staff, they're trespassing you.
Okay, so we're going to have to escort you off the property.
Our purpose is to do journalism.
And we're going to make this a fight for civil liberties.
We shouldn't have to do it, we shouldn't have to hire all these security and lawyers, but we're not going to concede that we can be kicked off City Hall.
We don't live in Iran or China.
We don't clear out from City Hall because some cop tells us to.
So I don't want to come across as threatening the police, but what happened yesterday when our people were driven out of the public square by the police will never happen again on my watch for this company.
But we're just going to be so compliant with the law that we're going to force the government to reveal itself.
Are they really just trying to get rid of us because they don't like the cut of our chip?
If so, that's illegal, that's unconstitutional.
So that's what's happening.
While we're talking, let's go down there and do it.
Hey, Brickboy, Handel!
All right, here they go.
Well, folks, we are at literally the scene of the crime.
This is the illegal encampment.
It's supposedly a circle.
It's not quite geometrically correct.
But this is where we were yesterday.
And evidently, there's a phony baloney rule that I think people and even media are allowed to be outside the circle, but we can't venture inside the circle.
Now, here come the umbrellas.
You can tell there's not a raindrop in the air today.
It's a nice sunny day in Toronto.
So this is going to be to attempt to block our cameras so you know we can't capture their crimes on video.
It's a typical antifile 101 tactic in massaging the narrative to their liking.
Also, as you can see, as I alluded to earlier, we got a couple of porta potties established by the city.
So not only are the police coming in and John Torrey saying you cannot be here, it is illegal, they are making these squatters have a comfortable place to be.
It should also be noted that despite this illegal occupation, there is 0.0 police presence.
And then we have one solitary security guard there.
Notably, he is behind a steel wall of sorts, a temporary steel fencing.
Very funny, that isn't it, folks.
The left is typically against building walls so that a country can maintain its sovereignty in terms of illegal aliens coming to the country.
But when they are threatened at City Hall, walls are very effective indeed.
Now, as you can see off camera too, this is where they start shoving umbrellas and whatnot into our faces and they start complaining, don't touch me, and that this is an assault on them.
Here's this guy, as you can see, I don't know what he's got.
They don't want free speech.
They don't want freedom of the press.
They don't want freedom of expression.
They want tyranny.
Not to spread lies and f ⁇ king.
Oh, is that right?
What's the truth, ma'am?
See, again, you ask them a question and they can't answer it.
They respond with vulgarity.
A conversation where people are against you.
They don't want anyone to hear you story.
Well, maybe, ma'am, if you put your umbrella down.
By the way, why is it that you people don't want your encampment filmed?
You people in the encampment, ma'am.
This is an occupation.
Oh, it's an occupation.
Okay, well, we're dealing with semantics right now.
Who are you colonizing?
Can I see a deed, please?
Pardon me?
Can I see the deed?
You don't need to see my f ⁇ ing deed.
Do you know what the history is?
Are you able to respond to a question without profanity?
Are these your lands?
Were you the original person of these lands?
Are these your lands?
Well, I believe this is a public square, ma'am.
Do you know that these are not your lands?
Does somebody come up into your home and take up your space?
Does somebody come into your home and they can dictate how you run your household?
What would you like?
What would you like us to do?
F ⁇ off my land.
That's what I would like.
What about all these other people on your land?
Why don't they?
Protesting against you.
This is not public space.
This is Anishinaabe territory.
I don't want to get into history.
I want to get into current events.
If you want to abolish the police, ma'am, who do we call when the bad guys harass people out?
The bad guys can get the f ⁇ out of here.
It's your people that did this, had this mindset in here.
Our people were peaceful people before they came here.
You know, I think you're probably a nice lady.
If someone were to criminally harass you, harm you, who would you call if you abolished the police, ma'am?
Well, I'm interviewing an umbrella again.
So, like I said, folks, as you can see, that is their main goal.
They have a big red and white sign that says abolish the police, not defund the police.
Why are you getting in our way, sir?
By the way, this is another tactic, folks.
They walk an inch away from us and then they play the victim card.
You know, oh, here's silence.
Don't touch me.
Don't f ⁇ ing touch me.
So, anyways.
Don't touch.
It's getting testy, as you can see.
Now, where, where, and you'd think, now you'd think with an illegal occupation like this, there would be a police presence.
But Mayor Tory has called off the cops, it would seem.
We are probably a four-minute drive from police headquarters.
Don't f ⁇ ing touch me.
What's your purpose here?
My purpose here is to do some journalism.
All right, so right now, what you're doing is causing a disturbance with everybody here.
I need to ask you to leave, okay?
What have I done to cause the faith?
You're causing disturbance.
I need you to leave the property.
And what have I done to cause you to do that?
Causing disturbance, sir.
I need you to leave the property.
You have been cautioned, and I've said it.
It is loud and clear.
You have been cautioned.
I need you to leave the property.
I've been trespassing, okay?
For causing disturbance.
Touch the property off.
Which section of the acts?
I don't have to tell you what you're trying to do.
You have to tell me what grounds I violated, ma'am.
Causing disturbance, sir.
Look it up.
I have looked it up, ma'am.
Hey, is that that wacky tobacco that's legal now?
Listen to your heart, decolonize your mind.
What does that mean, ma'am?
Smells like a dead skunk in the middle of the road, actually.
But it's a free country to you guys.
We could do that if we wanted.
Oh, is that right?
Is that your idea, freedom?
Shutting down the media, sir?
I thought we weren't allowed inside your sacred circle, sir.
We're outside of your sacred circle.
Because you're disruptors.
I'm just standing here talking.
You're the one disrupting.
No, I'm not.
You're disrupting by coming and going against what we believe.
Which is to abolish the police.
How does that help anyone?
How does that help any.
So, as you can see.
Hey, hey, don't touch the equipment.
You punch the microphone.
You punch the microphone.
I didn't do nothing wrong.
No, if you.
You put my hand in front of your camera.
Sir, if you didn't do nothing wrong, that means you did something wrong.
You used the double negative.
I'm sorry, you're not educated.
Take your hands.
No, don't use it.
Go!
Hey!
So you can see it's open season.
Don't touch me.
And you're the one that punched my microphone, sir.
That's vandalism.
So, anyways, so I'm not sure how much we're capturing, folks, but this is par for the course with these anti-fi wannabes.
You feel harassed?
You've got ample?
I think this is the definition of harassment.
You can't.
Oh, oh, hi, we've got another gender.
Touch my elder.
elder?
So again I'm not sure what they're trying to accomplish aside from making themselves look like infants.
How are you?
You tell me, my friend.
I don't know.
Sounds like we're all pretty sick, aren't we?
Get out of here.
We're all sick, my friend.
Get out of here, man.
Give us space.
Don't fing touch me.
I'm in a public square, Michael.
Come on, let's go.
Let's go.
I did nothing.
What the hell?
I swear to God, two.
Don't touch my guy.
Come on, man.
Come on.
Don't touch me again, buddy.
Do you know?
I'm a character, you little f***er.
Let's go, let's go.
Let me share.
Don't touch women.
Salting on women is not okay.
Touch me.
We won't stoop to your level.
You got that now?
How dare you?
We will not stoop to your violence.
You f***ing demons.
We've been separated from some members of our team.
Reporters in the Town Square00:11:12
It is completely lawless here.
Oh, there's some police right there.
Let's see if I flag them over.
They do anything.
Hey, police!
Please!
Look at this!
Look at this!
I guess they have to enforce the Bay Street clear lane or something.
Hi, officers.
We came here today with seven private professional insured security so we could do journalism.
We briefed ourselves on various laws and we were compliant throughout.
We went through the law.
No swearing, no troublemaking.
And we simply stood in there to report.
And our security did their best, but they were overwhelmed and there was a fisticuff.
I'd like to go back and calmly stand in the town square and do a five-minute news report, but I was driven out despite spending thousands of dollars on private security.
Now that you guys are here, I wonder if I can walk back into the town square of my city peacefully in compliance with all laws and exercise my right as a journalist.
You don't have to put that in my case.
So we were talking to the security over there, right?
They were saying that some of the words you guys were saying and using were antagonizing the crowd there.
That's not true.
I didn't even talk to them.
I didn't even, I didn't even talk about it.
Did you say anything to them?
I didn't say, not a word.
The security weren't even there, so the security didn't hear anything.
The security never came to help.
They were always at least 100 feet away.
So they physically could not have heard things.
I proactively went to the security to ask for assistance.
I was told I had to leave under the trespass.
And I said, what have I done?
And she couldn't say it.
So what I'm saying here is, and I'm happy to go alone or send David alone.
The reason we brought seven people with us is because our journalists were threatened yesterday and I thought, I can't have our journalists being beat up.
So will you either allow me or hopefully walk with me so I stand in front of my city hall as a journalist and do a five-minute news report in front of my city hall, completely compliant with the law and separated by a band of blue steel from the protesters.
So right now I got to talk to the city hall security again.
They advised me that they had trespassed you guys from the property.
Do you guys want to do your journalism?
We don't take offense to that.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
I think you could fix this by letting us go out.
Those guys won't.
I want to stand.
Why don't you guys like stand here?
No, no, no.
I'm going to go on the other side of the ramp.
I'll keep 20 feet away from the bad guys.
And I'm going to use my Section 2B charter, right, to report the news in my city.
So you're free to report the news.
That's not the problem at all.
And I'm also free to stand on the town square.
Explain it to me.
So see that stairwell that's going down?
Is that where you want to set up?
That's not bad.
Yeah.
Sure.
So I don't see a problem with that.
But I'm going to tell you right now.
Yeah.
If situations start to explode and security wants you to leave, then I'm going to have to ask you, right?
Well, I'm sure I want to tell you the law says, the law doesn't talk about situations.
The law talks about people.
I'm not going to explode.
David's not going to explode.
My cameramen aren't going to explode.
And my professional licensed security certainly aren't going to explode.
There are some explosive people in here, but the law touches explosive people, not explosive incidents.
And I'm not leaving because some guy explodes at me.
The law also touches about breaching the peace.
I haven't breached the peace at all.
If you want to take the position, officer, and I know you don't, that a peaceful, quiet news report on the town square is breaching the peace, that's a law that needs to be tested.
Let's just go and do some journalism, officer.
Let me speak to the security.
Give me a quick second.
Sure, and if you also want to call Colonel Sanders, he has about as much authority as these mall cops.
But you do what you got to do.
We're all going to work together.
We're all in here together.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
You're the best.
I like that guy.
I like him too.
I'm going to do a news report on my town square where I pay taxes every day.
That's just happening.
Whether I do it with the cops, with the security, or buy my loan summary.
happening all right uh we spoke to the security there they said uh 1234 they trespassed they trespassed all of you guys so here's what i'm gonna do um i'm gonna walk there now and that'll be that'll go one of three ways i think One is,
I'll go by myself and I'll probably get attacked.
That won't be good.
The other is, you come with me, and I don't think they're going to lay a glove on you.
But I know how tough it is to be a cop these days.
They're filming everything.
They're going to try and get you.
It's tough.
The third is, you arrest me.
Oh, I don't want that to happen.
But I am ready for that to happen.
Because the only reason I'm here with 15 of my friends is because we were shoot away from the town square yesterday and thought the president of the company himself is going to come down and prove that in Toronto, the town square is a place where a journalist can go peacefully.
So if that is not true, we need to know it.
And if I get personally attacked, we need to know it.
If I get arrested, we need to know it.
So I'm going to do that now.
I'm going to do whether or not you're going to be able to do it.
I did mention that to them and they don't want you on the property, right?
You know what?
1-800, I don't care.
I mean, their opinion matters not at all to me.
What I'm saying is, why don't you shoot some footage from here and get what you can get here?
Because I'm not.
I'm not standing here and make sure that you guys are safe right now.
Because I'm a free citizen and that's my town hall.
That's my town square.
That's the answer.
Why there's no other answer to it?
I'm explaining to you what security told me.
If you're not happy with their...
I'm not interested in playing legal games with mall cops, officer, so I'm...
So unless you have any last-minute things to say, I am now going to walk with my bravest cameraman and David.
I'm going to walk to the stairs.
I hope I don't get beat up.
I hope I don't get arrested.
Those are two possibilities.
I hope you guys will just walk with me to the stairs.
I'll do five minutes of journalism and then I'll call it a day.
Just to be clear, if I get a trespass.
So Mocha are you coming?
Just to be clear.
I thought that was a magnificent performance of, I guess, outdoor lawyering.
We are asserting ourselves.
You can already hear the moans from the sacred circle of the autonomous city.
And we're being met with the mall cops, for lack of a better term.
Ezra Levant here for RebelNews.com.
I'm standing in the town square of Toronto.
Corporate security, we're trespassing you from the property for causing disturbance.
I haven't caused a disturbance.
Stop lying, please.
Please stop lying.
Please don't lie on TV.
You're interfering with this peaceful demonstration.
Please don't lie on TV.
You've got to go.
Please don't lie.
You have to go to the house.
No, I don't.
Well, here's my lawyer.
You can talk to him, okay?
Okay.
I'm going to keep doing my work.
If you guys want to interfere, what's your name?
What's your name?
Show me your ID.
I don't believe you.
Show me your ID.
Right here.
This is mine.
Right here.
I can't see your name.
Stop hiding your name.
Yusuf Kassam.
And what grounds are you ejecting?
I'm asking you to leave.
You've already seen my ID.
Asking me to leave is in the grounds.
All right.
Talk to my lawyer or talk to one of the kids.
Okay, sir.
Okay, I'm not leaving.
Let me just do my report and then I'll get out of here.
If you want to arrest me, go ahead.
Ezra Levant here for the Rebel, for RebelNews.com.
I'm standing in a very strange place.
Normally, it's the town square of my own city.
But today, it's an encampment, a rather gross, urine-soaked encampment of protesters, rather incoherent.
We sent reporters here yesterday to try and have a conversation with them, but it was not useful.
Then mall security, I'm calling them mall security because that's what they are, told our people to leave.
Now, that's not what the law says.
What disappointed me the most is that a Toronto City policeman said if we didn't leave, we would be charged under the trespass laws.
Now, I contacted Aaron Rosenberg, our lawyer, and we went through the trespass laws very carefully.
And he confirmed that there are certain grounds you have to violate before being trespassed.
And we didn't violate those.
So, today, this morning, we had a staff meeting going through those laws, and we came back.
Well, you saw the footage of the mini riot that happened, and our seven private security guards were actually attacked.
I don't blame them for saying we got to get out of here.
The cops weren't around.
Luckily, four of Toronto's finest did finally come.
And after some attempts at negotiation, I told them one of three things is going to happen.
I'm going to come back down here myself alone and get beat up.
I'm going to come back down here with their protection.
Thank God that's what we're doing.
Or the third option is they'd arrest me.
I'm very glad it's ending without arrest, although the day's not done.
That's about it for me.
This isn't an interesting story.
I mean, these protesters are a rental mob.
They're not interesting in any way.
What is an interesting story is how John Torrey's Toronto has rolled out the red carpet for lawlessness and is cracking down on journalists peacefully doing their profession.
What have we learned today, folks?
Do we have free speech in Canada?
I think we do, but it's kind of like Diet Coke or Free Speech Light, if you will.
It's not the full meal deal.
It's not the First Amendment like our American cousins have.
We got our little five minutes and then we get the bums rush.
I'm not blaming the individual police officers.
This is the bailiwick of John Torrey and his spineless leadership in the city of Toronto.
I regret that our private security took some punches.
I have to say, Toronto's police did the right thing in the end.
I understand Toronto police wanting to negotiate, wanting to have a diplomatic solution, but that's not how it is between a bank robber and a bank teller.
That's not how it is between a fireman and a fire.
There's right and wrong, and there's lawful and unlawful.
And committing acts of journalism in the public town square, that's lawful.
All right.
Hope You Enjoyed That Coverage!00:02:12
What a great day.
Thanks, everybody, for your support.
If you want to help cover the costs of our seven private security, it's a big bill.
Go to journalistdefensefund.com.
Thanks, officers.
Thank you very much.
You better not.
You better not.
You make contact.
You're going to go to jail.
I know.
Well, I hope you enjoyed that Best of the Rebel coverage of Antifa.
I promise you this: you won't see that coverage on any other news channel.