Hundreds protest and march through Calgary’s core as G7 dignitaries arrive

Hundreds of demonstrators filled the streets of Calgary in an effort to get the attention of G7 leaders. Kathy Le reports.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets around city hall in Calgary on Sunday, hoping to draw attention from G7 dignitaries to a variety of issues.

There were protests against the conflicts in Ethiopia and between Israel and Hamas, as well as Pakistan and India’s latest conflict in Kashmir.

There was a protest against climate change, coal mining and Indigenous issues, including water security--and Donald Trump.

“We are here to protest for justice and peace for Kashmir, because Kashmir is a flashpoint right now between the three nuclear powers, India, Pakistan and China,” said Majid Ishfaq, who organized for Calgary’s Kashmir community.

“We are urging the G7 countries to include our conflict in their agenda, and look for the basic human rights violations going on in Kashmir.”

Kidane Sinkie, president of the Amhara Association of Calgary, was part of a protest against the conflict in Ethiopia.

“Leaders, they know everything (that is going on in Ethiopia),” Sinkie said. “They know--only the point is they don’t act. We want to show how things are very serious. ... Because world leaders, you know, they don’t have any doubt what’s happening in Ethiopia.”

Streets closed

Calgary police posted on social media that they were temporarily forced to close the Fourth Avenue Flyover due to an unauthorized protest with an estimated 400 people marching out of municipal plaza, down Macleod Trail, up Fifth Avenue and across the flyover.

At one point, police said “two calls for service for Calgary Fire Department were impacted” by a wandering demonstration that was eventually caught up to and redirected.

Later in the day, police issued a statement:

“Several demonstrations occurred in downtown Calgary. Some were lawful, most were peaceful and officers worked to keep everyone safe. This included shutting down a number of intersections to protect demonstrators and motorists,” the statement read.

“However, some behaviour from demonstrators was not in compliance with the Traffic Safety Act and interrupted emergency services. We will be reviewing all evidence gathered today to determine if any further action is required.

“The work by our Police Liaison Teams and the general willingness of the participants to co-operate was much appreciated and we look forward to the same level of co-operation throughout the remainder of the G7 Leaders’ Summit.”

‘No message’

Eva Clark, representing the Revolutionary Communist Party, said they had no message for G7 leaders.

“We don’t really have a message to the G7 leaders, except for you do not represent us,” she said. “We think that the whole G7 is just an organization of the major imperialist powers of the world getting together to decide not what’s best for us here in Canada or around the world, but what’s best for their profits themselves, so we don’t think that they represent us at all.”

Amanda Gillis said she was part of a group protesting against Donald Trump--and coal mining in the Eastern Slopes.

“We’re just activists against the way that Trump’s government’s been acting down in the (United) States,” she said. “We’ve got to stand with the people that want democracy and not fascism.

“We’re also protesting against the coal mining in our Eastern Slopes,” she added. “We don’t agree with Danielle Smith and how she’s ignoring 77 per cent of the population of Alberta who said we do not want coal mining in our Eastern Slopes. It’s going to hurt our water. And we just we can’t have that.

“G7 leaders, you need to start listening to your people,” she added.

Cynthia Tahhan said she represented Fridays for the Future, a group of local youth environmental activists.

“We’re doing the counter summit for the G7,” she said, “and we’re here to protest environmental denigration that Canada has been suffering through at the hands of corporations, oil and gas especially, and multinational corporations from foreign countries coming in and violating not only Canada’s environment, but also traditional Indigenous territories here in Canada as well.”

CTV News visited the second protest zone outside Calgary International Airport, but no protests were taking place. The only group on site were a collection of plane spotters.

With files from CTV’s Teri Fikowski and Damien Wood