Battle at Old Market Square

The Battle at Old Market Square was an anti-fascist protest on 5 June 1934 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Members of the Canadian Nationalist Party (CNP) planned a rally in Winnipeg's Exchange District, attended by an estimated 75 to 100 sympathizers of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.[1] The event was "a public provocation aimed at the organized labor movement, Jews, and minority communities".[2] The rally prompted 500 protesters from various anti-fascist groups to converge on Old Market Square; at least 20 Nationalist members were injured and seven were arrested when police arrived to subdue the crowd.[2]

The conflict "demonstrated the successful and deeply rooted popular resistance to fascist provocations" in Winnipeg: the CNP held no further public meetings and "no fascist group in the city would ever find itself in a position to mount such public campaigns of discrimination".[2]

  1. ^ Ryan Thorpe (19 November 2021). "Inside the war on hate". Winnipeg Free Press.
  2. ^ a b c Helmut-Harry Loewen (2009). "Battle at Old Market Square, Winnipeg, 1934". International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest. Blackwell – via Canadian Anti-racism Network.