Mayor 'disgusted' by antisemitic, white supremacy symbols on display at protest

Fredericton Mayor Kate Rogers has apologized for minimizing the harm done last weekend by protesters in the city using antisemitic and white supremacist symbols.

In a statement, Rogers said that when, at the end of Saturday's demonstration, she described the protest as "peaceful," she meant it was contained without the use of force.

"I understand that my characterization of the protest minimized the impact felt by members of our community, and I am sorry," she said Wednesday.

"I am disgusted that antisemitic and white supremacist symbols were used. As I have previously expressed, I agree that they are hateful and cause trauma. They have no place in our city or civil society."

The weekend protests took place in downtown Fredericton, where hundreds of people demonstrated against vaccine mandates and restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Rogers made the statement a day after New Brunswick's anti-racism commissioner criticized all levels of government for not coming out strongly against the racist symbolism and imagery connected to "white ethnonationalism, white supremacy, antisemitism, anti-refugee hate, and far-right extremism."

Manju Varma said ignoring these sentiments is in itself a form of racism, and signs such as "Don't Tread on Me" and comparing vaccine mandates to the Holocaust causes needless trauma.

Varma took issue with the characterization of the protest as "peaceful," because such an event can't be described that way unless "every citizen feels safe and protected from needless trauma."

"All that's required for evil to happen — to exist — is for good people to say nothing," she said in her statement.

Premier Blaine Higgs did not address the public during the Fredericton protests, which organizers had hoped would cause gridlock in the provincial capital the way a truck convoy had done in Ottawa. 

But in a statement Wednesday, Higgs said he's spoken several times early in the Ottawa protest about how "unacceptable" it was for protesters to promote hate, "and that is how I still feel."

"The actions of any protesters that were not peaceful, or that promote hate or violence, or target specific groups, is unacceptable and there is no place for it in our province," he said.

Rogers said she appreciates Varma drawing attention to the lack of government response at the time of the Fredericton protest.

"I am meeting with her this afternoon to further advance my own understanding."