Activist Gary McHale called off a rally after he was confronted by opponents and said he feared violence between them and his followers.
McHale, long a critic of the OPP and the way it polices the town in the wake of the Douglas Creek Estates land claim dispute, pulled the plug on his rally 20 minutes after it was to start yesterday when his appeal to separate the two sides was turned down by provincial police.
"If there was violence, we all know the OPP would have blamed me," said the co-founder of a group called Canadian Advocates for Charter Equality.
McHale and some of his supporters were to address about 50 people in the parking lot beside the Lions Hall on his claim the OPP have treated natives and non-natives differently during the four-year-old land claims dispute by ignoring natives breaking the law. They billed it as an anti-racism rally.
McHale vowed to stage rallies every Sunday.
"That's what I said," he told a crush of media as he climbed into a car to leave the scene. "It's going to happen every Sunday at 2 p.m. until the OPP does its job."
The two sides dispersed peacefully amid some small pointed and polite debates, but things ended on a raucous note when Caledonia home builder Sam Gualteri and his brother, Joe, showed up and hotly engaged McHale's opponents on the issue of land claims.
Sam Gualteri was the builder who was beaten up in 2007 during a violent confrontation at the Stirling Woods subdivision, which is north of Douglas Creek Estates. Three Six Nations men were charged.
McHale had walked around to some followers and told them not to pay any attention to their opponents and speakers, because they were just trying to "work you up." He decried the action of his opponents, which included members of CUPE Local 3903 from York University and some Six Nations residents, saying there is no "free speech in Canada unless that group there agrees with you." He, however, believed their move helped prove his long-standing point.
"The OPP, if this was a native rally, would have 100 officers lined up to stop us from approaching. This proved our exact point. If the OPP policy is to maintain the peace, why doesn't it apply both ways then."
Detective Constable Matt Watson of the Haldimand OPP would not comment on McHale's remarks. He said, however, police did not encounter any troubles.
"As I told Mr. McHale, we're here to ensure everyone protests peacefully and maintain the peace."
Shortly before the McHale rally was to start, CUPE member Tom Keefer addressed the crowd with a megaphone, welcoming them to the anti-racism rally and telling them about, among other things, the history of Anti-Racism Day. About 50 people waving signs such as 'This is Six Nations Land' stood by the entrance to the lot and about 30 others mingled with McHale's followers.
"I was under the impression it was an anti-racism rally," Keefer said. "We came here to talk about racism and anti-racism."