White pride demonstrations in Edmonton, London, Ont., fizzle in face of anti-racism protests

White supremacists have been active in Canada for a century, with the Ku Klux Klan flourishing in Saskatchewan in the 1920s and operating elsewhere in the country to lesser success, but they've never had more than a toehold.

The latest eruption of white pride met with similarly little sympathy when anti-racist protesters cowed a handful of neo-Nazis who tried to hold parades in Edmonton and London, Ont., last weekend.

In London, where just a week before police faced off against St. Patrick's Day rioters, a small group of white-pride advocates clashed with a larger anti-racism crowd Saturday and was forced to flee, the London Free Press reported.

The anti-racism group, numbering about 100, then marched to city hall. Bystanders belonging to visible minorities scurried away in confusion, apparently worried these were the white supremacists.

"We're an anti-racism group," one marcher shouted at the departing, the Free Press reported.

There were reports one person was arrested and police said they kept close watch on the demonstrations because of what happened on St. Patrick's Day.

Things didn't go any better in Edmonton for a dozen or so white pride supporters, most who covered their faces. Within minutes of arriving at downtown's Sir Winston Churchill Square for a planned rally on Saturday, they were confronted by about 100 anti-racisim protesters.

Police kept them separated but that didn't stop them from hurling insults at each other, CBC News reported.

However, the larger group forced the white supremacists to flee into a nearby light rail transit station. Police blocked the entrance to keep their opponents from following.

That led to an absurd game of hopscotch as the anti-racists raced from entrance to entrance trying to follow the group, which ended up at the Alberta legislature. It tried to hold its rally but was once again chased off by protesters. Police finally put them on a subway train to a suburban shopping centre.

The neo-Nazi group Blood and Honour is thought to have been behind the rallies, which were publicized on its web site.

A post on Vancouver Media Co-op's web site by A. Molotov said it's the latest setback for the group. He noted three Blood and Honour members are facing assault charges in Vancouver laid under hate-crime legislation.