Calls in Canada for Proud Boys to be designated terror group after Capitol riots

A petition has been launched in Canada to ban Proud Boys after politicians sounded alarm on US Capitol violence

Proud boys at the Million MAGA March in Washington DC (EPA)

Canadian opposition party leader Jagmeet Singh has strongly condemned the far-right, white supremacist group Proud Boys, calling on the government to ban the organisation and designate them a terror group following their involvement in the storming of the US Capitol.

Head of the left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP), the fourth-largest in terms of seats in Canada’s House of Commons, Mr Singh called on the Justin Trudeau-led government to act with urgency and dismantle the group that, though US-based, also has roots in Canada.

“We must act urgently to stop the outbreaks of hate here in Canada by banning and designating the Proud Boys as a terrorist organisation”, Mr Singh said in a statement. He added that “hate knows no boundaries” and that action should be taken before Canada sees a similar incident to what occurred in Washington on Wednesday.

The NDP has also launched a public petition to designate the Proud Boys a terror group and put a ban on its activities. 

“The Proud Boys helped execute it. Their founder is Canadian. They operate in Canada, right now. And I am calling for them to be designated as a terrorist organisation, immediately,” Mr Singh said.

The petition on the NDP website does not provide a live count of signatures, but Mr Singh claimed it had received overwhelming support and that the site crashed due to heavy traffic. 

Mr Singh also said that the ultimate blame for the violence at the Capitol lay with president Donald Trump, and he criticised the police for apparent bias in its light-touch response to the attack, calling it “systematic racism”.

Asked to condemn the Proud Boys at a presidential debate before the election last year, Mr Trump told the group to "stand back and stand by". The ambiguity of this statement led members of the group to celebrate online, believing they had been endorsed and ordered to ready themselves for further instruction by the president. 

The head of the gang Enrique Tarrio, 36, was arrested on Monday for involvement in vandalisation of property after he admitted to destroying a Black Lives Matter banner on a historic African-American church during last month’s violent demonstrations.

The Proud Boys boasted about the violence at the US Capitol and celebrated their role in the riot, dubbed an act of “insurrection” by president-elect Joe Biden.

"For several hours, our collective strength had politicians in Washington in absolute terror. The treacherous pawns (cops) were also terrified," one Proud Boy wrote on the group's Telegram social media page.