As Chrystia Freeland, the Canadian minister of finance, walks down a street, David Menzies, of Rebel News approaches with a microphone.
“Ms. Freeland, how come the IRGC is not a terrorist group?” he asks, of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “Why is your government supporting Islamo-nationalism?”
The minister, who ignores the questions, veers to her left—per video that Rebel News posted on social media—leading Menzies to apparently walk into a police officer, who has planted himself seemingly like a basketball player setting a pick aiming to get fouled.
“Excuse me,” Menzies says at first, seeming to have not seen the officer. “What are you doing?” “You’re under arrest for assault,” the officer says, before throwing Menzies, who wears a tan hat and still holds his microphone, into a wall.
“How am I under arrest? You bumped into me,” Menzies says.
“You pushed into me, sir,” the officer says, without letting go of Menzies. Menzies attempts to show his credentials to the officer. “You just bumped into me,” he tells the plainclothes officer. “He blocked my way,” Menzies tells another man, in plainclothes.
The first man then tells Menzies he is under arrest “for assaulting a police officer.” The second man tells Menzies that he was being aggressive. “You mean, I was asking questions aggressively,” he said.
“No. No. Your actions were. You were almost pushing everybody over,” the man says.
“That’s an absolute falsehood,” Menzies says, turning to his cameraman.
“So now it appeared that way. That’s what you’re saying, officer,” Menzies said. “I didn’t touch a single person.”
“That was a little bit aggressive for what was happening,” the officer said. “You’re under arrest. Please take the microphone out of my face.”
As Menzies is arrested, the colleague asks for the microphone. “Why am I arrested? I’m just doing my job,” Menzies insisted.
As the officers led him away, Menzies referred several times to Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, as “Blackface.” The progressive politician was photographed multiple times wearing blackface, dressed as Aladdin, at a party.
“This is the state of freedom of the press. In Canada. In 2024. After eight years of Trudeau,” wrote Pierre Poilievre, a member of the Canadian parliament running for prime minister.
“This is the Gestapo taking Blackface’s orders. Outrageous. And meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is not a terrorist organization?” Menzies says, as he is handcuffed. “A Canadian government that props up an Islamo-fascist regime, that’s OK. But if you ask questions about that, that’s not OK.”
“I didn’t come here to cause trouble, folks. I just came here to ask questions.”
“I worked alongside David Menzies at Sun News Network in Canada. Honest, diligent, hard-working reporter. Now he gets arrested for asking a politician questions in a public space,” wrote Simon Kent, managing editor of Breitbart in London. “Really, this is Trudeau’s Canada today?”
