Far-left politician NDP MPP Joel Harden claimed that he was punched in the face and head multiple times at a protest against gender ideology and indoctrination of children in schools.
One day before the event, on Thursday, Harden stood up in the provincial legislature to denounce the protest and labeled it as a “hate” rally.
When the event unfolded on Friday it turned out to be the largest protest in Canada involving gender ideology and indoctrination in schools.
Hundreds of protesters parents, children, students from diverse racial, cultural and ethnical backgrounds united together in a peaceful protest to reject gender ideology and indoctrination in schools.
On the other side pro gender ideology and indoctrination in schools protesters which included Joel Harden also with hundreds of people but their objective was to disrupt the peaceful protest against gender ideology in schools and block its planned march.
Just after noon MPP Joel Harden replied to a tweet claiming he was punched
“And punching people in the face.” Harden tweeted, adding “But I’ll take a punch for queer and trans youth any day.” and sharing a picture of a small scrape on his cheek. Despite hundreds of phones and cameras all around, Harden was unable to provide any video evidence.
According to yahoo news Harden said he saw two women get physical with each other and he jumped in the middle of them “in an attempt to ensure the safety of everyone in attendance.”
“I felt a punch in the back and then a rabbit-punch to the face,” Harden recounted. “It happened in a split-second.” reported Yahoo News Canada. It has also been archived.
Yahoo also noted Harden said someone from the rally quickly pulled the woman off and and she disappeared.
Apparently there was a witness to the alleged assault.
“I saw my dear friend (and MPP) get punched in the face by haters today.” Joels friend Ariel Troster with “she/her” in her profile replied with a Quote Tweet before labelling anyone against gender ideology and indoctrination as bigots “When I say the bigots are getting emboldened, this is what I mean.” the Twitter profile for Ariel Troster is now private and the tweets are protected but it is still available in the archive.
On Saturday a video surfaced online, a thread posted by Sa’d which contains a video of far-left politician Joel Harden screaming into a megaphone. By the looks of the slowed down video Joel Harden is holding the megaphone so close to his face it’s touching his cheek.
Saturday afternoon BC Rise reached out to the Ottawa police for comment on the situation and if there will be a proactive follow up with Harden to investigate and verify the accuracy considering Harden is a government official making very public statements about being allegedly assaulted. However BC Rise has not received a response at the time this article was published.
Joel Harden received support but he was also heavily mocked and ridiculed.
“hate has no place in our city.” tweeted Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe
“Protests like the one today on Broadview should not be allowed to disrupt children and their education. And hatred has no place anywhere in our city,” he wrote.
Canada’s far left-wing federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh wrote a though out and clever tweet making sure not to directly acknowledge if the alleged assault actually happened.
“I’m proud of you @JoelHardenONDP.” Singh began his quote tweet. “Queer and Trans people – and kids – are being targeted by angry and hateful extremists.” before demanding the government to “step up to protect the queer and trans community.”
Did they carry a rope, bleach, and yell “this is MAGA country”? on user tweeted referring to Jussie Smollett in the United States. Jussie Smollett’s is an actor who happens to be gay and black. He faked a hate crime by hiring 2 black men to punch him in the face and put a noose around his own neck.
In another clip uploaded on Twitter Joel Harden is seen walking down the middle of the road screaming into a megaphone “protect trans kids.”
Violence appeared to have erupt directly behind the far-left politicians back. A pro trans counter protester allegedly punch a man. The alleged punch happened out of frame of the video but there is a man that can be seen falling over and a man with his face completely covered in an aggressive stance backing up. A group of people pointed him out to the police yelling “assaulter.”
The police detained and arrested the radical far left trans activist.
Harden has previously made headlines for perpetuating and spreading “harmful” anti-Semitic stereotypes.
Left-wing media Toronto Star even questioned Harden about the statements and published his apology for the Jewish community to read.
“I spoke in a way that perpetrated an anti-Semitic stereotype towards Jewish neighbours.
I regret my choice of words and sincerely apologize to the Jewish community.
You have my commitment that it won’t happen again and I will continue to work with Jewish leaders who can help me understand anti-Semitism.”
The apology was seen as empty words and pandering and some have questioned the integrity of the NDP for keeping anti-Jewish hate spreaders amongst its ranks
[UPDATE] This article was updated to include a tweet by BC Rise with a screen shot of witness testimony of the alleged assault.