What began as a peaceful protest in downtown Kingston was met with unexpected violence, video shows.
On Sept. 20, during the Draw the Line protest in downtown Kingston, organized by the Kingston Climate Justice Coalition and local community groups, a silver Honda Civic drove through the permitted march. The car came barreling down the Frontenac-Johnson St. intersection, ran through a large banner that read “Land Back, Arms Embargo Now,” and drove off on Johnson St.
Demonstrators were sending a message to Prime Minister Mark Carney demanding action on climate action, Indigenous rights, Palestinian solidarity, and more.
A 20-second video of the incident shared with The Journal by Henry Swoboda, a faculty member in Emergency Medicine at Queen’s, showing the car driving up, stopping, then running through the sign.
Video of car going through sign. VIDEO SUPPLIED BY: Henry Swoboda.
The protest began at Victoria Park and proceeded through the city, with marshals and a community police vehicle present. The incident occurred shortly after the protest began, and demonstrators reported verbal harassment along the route. Kingston Police have confirmed in a statement to The Journal that an investigation is underway.
Henry was a marshal and speaker at the protest and held the banner that the car drove through. He attended with his wife, Dr. April Swoboda, an assistant professor in Oncology at Queen’s, and their two children. The couple recounted the incident in an interview with The Journal.
“There were our marshals blocking part of the street, and the car kind of swerved to go around our marshals,” Swoboda continued, “then he accelerated forward and drove through the banner, […] then drove on down the street.”
Henry said he didn’t believe the driver specifically targeted the sign but noted the broader climate of hostility during the protest. He shared that during the protest; there was often verbal harassment.
“We’re being kind of actively harassed as we were going down the street,” he said. “Certainly, the worst of it was groups of younger, what appeared to be college-aged students.
While the protest continued on, April shared that those at the back were left shaken.
“It was like a traumatic thing,” she said. “My kids were crying, and they were afraid to walk in the middle of the street.”
The couple who moved from Chicago to Kingston to escape some of the extremism and division facing the United States expressed worry about what this incident meant in the grand scheme of Canada’s political climate and atmosphere.
“It’s a microcosm of what’s happening across the world,” April said. Henry added, “This is how it started down there,” referencing the U.S. “In my mind, this was an act of terrorism […] to scare people away from the message that we were trying to spread.”
Kingston Police emphasized that an officer was on the scene of the alleged attack.
“We’re aware of this incident and are investigating […] At the time of the incident, it was called in, and a patrol officer checked the area but was unable to locate the vehicle.” They continued, “Our traffic unit has since taken carriage of the investigation, they’ve spoken to all who were involved at the parade and are keeping them updated as well.”
April recalled that the Police volunteer present at the scene didn’t block traffic or approach those affected. She said it felt as if the possible officer did “nothing” and as if the group that was impacted was on their own.
Investigations are still underway. Henry was able to provide the police with a license plate number and videos.
Tags
car accident, Climate activism, climate protest, Draw the Line, Protest
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.