Some Anti-Government Creeps Arrested In Truckerpalooza Raid Plotted To Kill Cops, Quelle Surprise

Except it was for 'freedom,' so that makes it OK?

More on those gun-toting weirdos arrested Monday near the then-blockaded Coutts border crossing between Alberta and Montana. First off, the border crossing was reopened Tuesday after the mobile antivaxxer slob picnic cleared out, so that's good.

Lees cheerful, though, is that four of the 11 people arrested have been charged with conspiracy to murder members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The others were charged with "possession of a weapon for dangerous purpose" and the almost quaint-sounding charge of "mischief over $5,000."

Also too, as Vice News reports, two of the members of the small group of radicals are connected to a "shitposting far-Right group" that advocates for armed rebellion, shares anti-semitic and anti-government memes, and thinks it would be neat to overthrow the US and Canadian governments for the purpose of creating a new far-Right nation making up roughly half the North American continent. Yes, that's mostly a bullshit idea, but like the American "Boogaloo bois" movement, it's motivated by conspiracy theories and far-Right power and revenge fantasies. Just joking, only serious.

Vice News notes some telling details in the patches affixed to body armor seized in the raid:

In the image, you can see plate carriers contained several patches, an “infidel” patch that’s popular in the anti-Islam community, and a simple patch with a white line scrawled across it. This symbol corresponds to the online community of Diagolon—it’s named for the idea that they would slash Canada and the states diagonally and the western side could be their new separated home.

While the idea is more or less a meme, a very real community around it has formed regional groups. The group’s members are encouraged to network offline and build offline communities who meet up and teach each other skills in survivalism, firearms, and more. VICE World News has viewed chapters for this all over the country, several of which have held meetups.

Yep, this "Diagolon" thing is apparently yet another new rightwing buzzword we'll need to worry about now.

And what fine people they are! American Boogaloo Bois have their own insider jokes and jargon, like wearing Hawaiian shirts (for the "big luau," GET IT), while Diagolon dipshits call themselves the "Plaid Army," according to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN). The movement is loosely organized around several far-Right figures who stream hatey stuff online, with a focus on conspiracy theories, white nationalism, and talk of violent revolution:

Diagolon is increasingly becoming a militia network. Their goals are ultimately fascist: to use violence to take power and strip rights away from people who do not meet their purity tests based on ideology, race, and gender. With power or permission, they would execute their perceived enemies. Their motto is “gun or rope.”

They also cheekily call themselves "bigots" and laugh about how transgressive that is. Their vision for a new nation is far more ambitious than earlier wingnut fantasies about turning the Pacific Northwest into a whites-only paradise, too:

The concept of Diagolon started as a joke among the Plaid Army streamers. Running southeast from Alaska, capturing most of the western provinces, and ending in Florida, it envisions absorbing the “sane” regions of North America into a new country in the shape of a slash. It’s become the symbol and identifier for Plaid Army fans who push each other to train and prepare for a coming conflict. They are especially animated by their belief that there’s a sinister plot behind COVID-19 and public health measures.

No, don't bother asking "what about California?" They know their revolution isn't going to happen, even as they arm up in hopes of a nice civilizational collapse to force the issue. We would guess they're all well versed in The Turner Diaries , with its "Day of the Rope" for all the minorities and race traitors.

Vice News says there's evidence connecting two of those arrested Monday with the Diagolon movement:

Perhaps most importantly is a photo that shows [Diagolon's de facto leader Jeremy] MacKenzie next to Christopher Lysak, one of the men charged with conspiracy to commit murder. The photo, which was provided to VICE World News by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, shows Lysak and MacKenzie drinking beers and smiling at the camera.

From Twitter, here's the photo:  

Following the RCMP raid and seizure in #Coutts, Chris Lysak, once called the "head of security for Diagolon" by de facto leader Jeremy MacKenzie, has been accused of conspiracy to commit murder. 1/pic.twitter.com/s8xLT8WbXR

— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@Canadian Anti-Hate Network) 1644967253 

Another of the guys charged with conspiracy to murder, Chris Carbert, posted screenshots of Diagolon chats online, and also posted "an image from inside Smuggler’s Saloon in Coutts (the protest headquarters) and pleaded with his online friends for “support and help.”

"Sly Fox" and many co-accused signed a flag hanging on the wall of Smuggler’s Saloon at Coutts, as did several other blockade attendees, incl Artur Palowski & Rebel News content creator Kian “K2” Simone. The flag was posted to Facebook by Lysak’s co-accused, Chris Carbert. 4/pic.twitter.com/vYcRjfI24i

— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@Canadian Anti-Hate Network) 1644967259 

Vice explains that Diagolon leader MacKenzie is just a really fine fellow who insists there's absolutely no connection between his group and the people arrested Monday, because false flag I never met the guy I'm pictured with:  

Both MacKenzie and the community seized upon the freedom convoy protests. He told his audience this is “our last shot” and told his followers to “be on their best behaviour.” MacKenzie and his vlogging cohorts became known after a video of one of them saying they hoped the trucker convoy would become Canada’s Jan 6 was released. 

Since the arrests, MacKenzie has tried to distance himself from the group. [...]

Those still active within the group are treating the arrests like a false-flag event that was set up by the RCMP.

“Total false flag,” wrote one member. “They weren't even part of the convoy.”

That's the line MacKenzie has taken since the arrests near Coutts, insisting that he doesn't know any of the people arrested, and that golly anyone could have planted those Diagolon patches to make it look like the movement was connected with criming. False Flag! False Flag!

In a livestream posted shortly after the arrests , a paranoid and despondent MacKenzie said, “There has been some community-associated paraphernalia confiscated.” He told his audience that “the situation is really bad right now” and “it’s difficult to navigate this and talk about it in a way that doesn’t completely fuck myself ’cause of legal reasons.”

Gosh, why would he be afraid of incriminating himself? Surely he has done nothing untoward.

Somewhere in there, MacKenzie seems to have forgotten he didn't know any of the alleged conspirators, because he came out and asked for people to pray for them because they're really good people:

They got arrested, we haven't heard from them, and we don’t know what’s going on. There are some rumours they're getting fucking charged with some heavy shit.

I don’t know what is happening there. I know as much as you do, but I know they’re not bad guys, I know they’re not bad people. We got to have each other's back.

In other news, back in Ottawa, two of the leaders of the "Freedom Convoy," Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, were arrested yesterday and charged with "counselling to commit mischief." In addition, Barber was charged with "counselling to disobey a court order" and "counselling to obstruct police." See what happens when a country doesn't have a First Amendment? People can be charged with crimes just for offering counselling services!

We suppose it won't be long until American rightwingers start calling all those arrested "political prisoners" and fundraising on their behalf, or at least using the arrests to fundraise for themselves. Oh right, Gary's writing that up right now.

[ Vice News / CAHN / CBC ]

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