A Canadian pastor spent Easter weekend in jail after publicly protesting drag shows for children at public libraries in Calgary, Alberta, marking his third arrest in five weeks.
According to the Christian Post, Video footage posted on Rumble shows Calgary police officers arresting Pastor Derek Reimer of Mission 7 Ministries as he protested outside the Genesis Centre on April 4, five days before Easter.
Reimer has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of drag queen story hours, events usually hosted by public libraries where men dressed as women read to children. Reimer was arrested on two separate occasions for similar protests, both of which occurred last month.
In an interview with Rebel News, Reimer described his arrest as “outrageous.” Reimer claims he was “nearly a kilometer away from the Genesis Centre, just preaching, making people aware of what was taking place there.” He said the focus of his protest was the “pervert grooming hour” taking place there, referring to a drag queen story hour.
“The cops come up, you can already see in the video, they arrest me, they’re not telling me even what I’m arrested for or what the warrants are for,” he lamented.
The police informed Reimer that “there’s a warrant out for eight additional charges.” The eight charges include five counts of breaching court conditions, two counts of causing a disturbance and one count of criminal harassment, according to The Calgary Herald.
Speaking to Rebel News, Reimer’s attorney Ben Allison said his client spent Easter weekend in jail due to an alleged breach of his bail conditions. Responding to reports that the additional charges were “hate-motivated,” Allison said that “if a person is sentenced of any criminal act, one of the factors … the court can consider is whether or not … the criminal act was motivated by hate.” Reimer has a court hearing scheduled for April 12.
