A 34-year-old Montrealer who allegedly waved a Nazi flag near the Canadian Parliament while uttering “hateful insults” in mid-March has just been arrested for “public incitement to hatred” by Ottawa police.
Posted at 2:35 p.m.
Amine Batbouti is expected to appear soon before an Ontario justice judge to answer these charges. In the meantime, he has been “released on a promise to appear”, authorities said in an email to The Press.
The alleged facts date back to March 12, on Wellington Street in downtown Ottawa, near Parliament Hill.
That day, shortly after 5 p.m., a man was “seen waving a known racist flag, making obscene gestures and hurling hateful slurs,” the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) said in a statement released Thursday. adding that fortunately, no one was injured during the incident.
The case is reminiscent of the controversy that took place during the siege of truckers, which ended on February 20 in Ottawa, when at least one protester touched a Canadian flag marked with the swastika. The House of Commons immediately adopted, by unanimous consent, four motions presented by the Liberals condemning the use of Nazi and anti-Semitic symbols, but also any “hateful and harmful Islamophobic rhetoric” and the waving of racist flags.
Recognized and filmed on Twitter
Videos and photos that have been circulating on Twitter over the past few weeks clearly show Amine Batbouti displaying a Nazi flag. He occasionally addresses Ottawa residents who, visibly frustrated by his presence, repeatedly ask him to leave.
Very active on his Twitter account, the main interested party also confirmed on Wednesday that he had received a call from an SPO investigator, seeming to question the attitude of the authorities towards him, wondering if it was of a film “.
On March 12, Amine Batbouti tweeted that he had raised his Nazi flag “high and proud” in front of Parliament. Comments he made the previous days also show that he would have reserved a hotel and a train ticket to go specifically to Ottawa, with his flag, in order to participate in a demonstration. He then said that he returned to Montreal the next day.
In a statement, Ottawa police said Thursday that they “do not condone any hate-motivated incidents.” Its agents will carry out “a thorough investigation of all reported cases”, it was assured.
Thus, anyone who has been the victim of a hate crime is invited to contact the SPO, by dialing 613-236-1222, ext. 7300. A report can also be made directly online. To provide information on this or any other case anonymously, the Crime Stoppers Center can also be reached at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), or online at crimestoppers.ca.