Questions raised after arrest of Calgary protester on hate-motivated disturbance charge

A Calgary man who police accuse of using an antisemitic phrase during a downtown rally last weekend is facing a charge of causing a disturbance, with hate motivation also being applied to that charge.

Wesam Cooley, 32, who also goes by the name Wesam Khaled, was arrested after the rally on Sunday. The hate motivation aspect of the charge — if proven — would apply as an aggravating factor at sentencing if he is found guilty. 

But a co-organizer of the protest, who says she took part in a pre-rally conversation with police, said Cooley was assured by one CPS member before his speech that the words he was about to use while addressing supporters would not result in charges that day.

According to a police statement, two groups of protesters gathered Sunday at Calgary's city hall to rally about the conflict in the Middle East. One group was there to show support for the Palestinian people. The other for Israel.

In the statement, police say members of their Diversity Response Team and Public Safety Unit met with members of both groups before the protests "to ensure the safety of the participants, the public and our police officers and to discuss some of the language and signage observed at past protests."

They say after that conversation Cooley took to the stage and acknowledged the conversation with police.

"He then proceeded to repeatedly use an antisemitic phrase while encouraging the crowd to follow along," according to the police release.

Police will not say what phrase was allegedly used by Cooley, but according to a public statement from the group that organized the protest, Justice for Palestinians, Cooley was charged for uttering the phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." 

It is "a protest chant that has been a Palestinian call for liberation for decades," according to the Calgary group's statement.

However, Jewish groups have described the phrase as antisemitic, and say it advocates driving Jews out of Israel. 

The Calgary Jewish Federation didn't respond to a request for comment, but thanked police for taking swift action after the weekend protest against a person "who was publicly inciting hate," in a statement posted on the organization's Facebook page on Nov. 7.

"This arrest will hopefully set a precedent not only in Calgary but in other cities," it added.

CBC News has viewed video of the event posted to Facebook and Cooley can be seen leading the crowd in the chant after telling them that he was just told that the Alberta government is looking into deeming the chant as hate speech. 

"They are investigating whether or not people should be able to be arrested for hate speech crimes just for chanting that chant," he told the crowd.