Moncton man apologizes for racist tirade; police investigate assault on protester

Moncton man apologizes for racist insults A racist tirade made during a peaceful protest was caught on video and shared. Kate Walker reports.

MONCTON, N.B. — A disturbing video surfaced on social media Monday during a peaceful protest for Black Lives Matter in Moncton, N.B.

A man was caught on tape hurling racist insults during the anti-racism march.

"Following the demonstration (Monday), we had report of someone throwing items towards the crowd and saying racial slurs," said Cpl. Mike Titus of the Codiac RCMP.

Off-camera, you can hear a man yelling racial taunts and insults such as "white lives matter too!"

Though it is not the person taking the video, it sounds like the yelling was coming from the same building as the person who took the video.

"I believe there is freedom of speech, I understand that, but your freedom of speech shouldn't hurt the other people," said protest organizer Nellys Kalgora.

Catherine Parlee was part of a crowd making its way to city hall when she was struck by eggs.

"All of the sudden, I felt something hit me really hard," Parlee said. "It was around my legs and feet and I looked down and I saw just a ton of egg shells, egg yolk, the shells were in my shoes; everything was all over the place. I was in complete shock."

She looked up to hear the same male voice caught on the video, which spread quickly online.

"I was hearing a male voice screaming really aggressive racial-based insults," Parlee said. "They were scary words to hear."

Titus said police arrested a 47-year-old Moncton man for "assault and inciting hatred."

Police have not identified the man who was arrested, but an apology video was posted on Facebook Tuesday from a man claiming he was responsible.

"I'd like to begin by saying, it was a stupid thing I did, and it was wrong," the man says. "It was done out of anger and frustration. Yelling at protesters that were almost gone from sight, still yelling, out of range. And I took it out on the world, and that was wrong."

Parlee said, even though she was assaulted, she considers herself lucky.

"I feel privileged that eggs were the weapon that he used, because I'm aware that it's not like that for everybody."

For Black Lives Matter advocates, the conversation is far from over.

"This kind of words of violence of discrimination has to stop," said protester Olivier Hussein. "And we will keep fighting about these kinds of things."

The man who was arrested was later released and is set to appear in court at a later date. As of Tuesday afternoon, no charges had been laid.