Canadian Far-Right Responds to the Murder of Two Protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin

Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was shot and paralyzed by police last week, which set off major protests in the city. It was during one of these protests that Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17 year old boy from Antioch, Illinois, who is a member of a right-wing militia, shot 3 protesters, killing 2 and injuring one. He was later arrested by police, after he had fled the state. Numerous videos on social media show the attack, with Rittenhouse shooting a protester in the head, and shooting into the crowd. Initially, protesters had attempted to disarm him of his assault-style rifle. 

We won't go too in depth on what happened in Kenosha, as it's already been reported on at length. 

However, predictably, the Canadian far-right has reacted with their usual callousness and hatred. 

Jeremy MacKenzie (AKA Raging Humanist/Rick Handy), and John Southern (who claims to have been involved in some capacity with Wolfgang Droege of the Heritage Front) were gleeful that protesters were murdered in the street:

Fascists “John Southern” (from Vancouver) and Jeremy Mackenzie (SK by way of NS) gleeful over the #KenoshaShooter.

17 year old Kyle Rittenhouse killed 2 and injured 1. pic.twitter.com/S8Bs2YXzmi

— YVCE 🧛‍♂️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♂️🧛‍♀️ (@VestsCanada) August 26, 2020

On Facebook, members and associates of Yellow Vests Canada were quick to defend the killer: 

Other Canadian far-right groups have also been supportive of the killer, such as Canadian Combat Coalition and the Threepers, both far-right anti-Muslim militia groups: 

A reference to Anthony Huber, who attempted to disarm Rittenhouse using his skateboard 

 

Chris Vanderweide, who is awaiting trial for assault due to his involvement with the attack on Hamilton Pride, is also supportive, as is his girlfriend Leigh Stuart:

Ron Banerjee of the patriot movement and Rise Canada is wondering why he can't carry a gun in Canada and shoot people that confront him:

Sam Bell, who runs the Alberta Separatist Youth League, an Alberta thinly disguised white nationalist group, and is also associated with Wexit, posted supportive memes to both his Facebook page (Make Alberta Great Again) and his Instagram. 

Rittenhouse isn't from that city 

Mark Friesen is a nationalist from the yellow vests and a failed PPC candidate. He is also showing support for the shooter.

 

Kazz Nowlin, formerly of the Threepers and currently of the Canadian Sheepdogs, has been especially vocally supportive of the killer: 

Over on Telegram, the virulently racist and antisemitic Canada First (Public) channel has expressed support: 

And the Proud Boys as well: 

As unsurprising as the reactions are, it is very disturbing that an untrained 17 year old boy in the U.S. can walk around with an assault rifle, and attempt to quell a protest against racialized police violence. He killed 2 people, said so to the police, and the officers on the scene did not arrest him. If that isn't an example of white privilege, I don't know what is. 

Chris Saccoccia: Privileged Yellow Vester Participating in Toronto Anti-Lockdown Rallies

Multiple cities across Canada (and the world) have seen a rise in anti-lockdown protests intended to counter current lockdown procedures put in place to inhibit the spread of COVID-19. The rallies in Toronto have been some of the largest in Canada, with a few hundred people attending.

The Toronto rallies (like other rallies in Canada and elsewhere) have included members of the far-right, hate groups, and neo-Nazis. Confirmed in attendance at Toronto rallies:

Ron Banjeree, known at the rallies for promoting extreme sinophobia, neo-Nazi Paul Fromm, former/current Proud Boy Josh Chernofsky, far-right vlogger Wayne Peters, and Northern Guard's Ed Jamnisek:

The person with question marks has been identified as neo-Nazi bonehead Tomas Liko

In the last few days, we identified a previously unknown attending the rally with Paul Fromm as neo-Nazi Tomas Liko, who was interviewed by The Rebel's David Menzies.

Hamilton Yellow Vesters Justin and Rebecca Long, who are frequently sharing more bizarre Covid-19 conspiracies on social media:

Long has been a speaker at these rallies

 Far-right vlogger Derek Storie, who was present at the 2019 attack on Hamilton Pride:

Canadian Nationalist Party supporter and frequent agitator Lily, who has uploaded videos claiming to be upset more Chinese have not been killed by the virus:

 And Jack Reynolds, who regularly attends Pegida rallies, just to name a few.

One person involved with the Toronto rallies who has been a vocal supporter and has given speeches during the events has caught our attention. Going under the name 'Chris Sky' on Facebook, he was displayed with a megaphone in the lead photo on a BlogTO article and was featured in the thumbnail for videos by The Rebel. He was also interviewed by Ed the Sock where he claimed that there is no COVID-19 curve to flatten.

We mentioned Chris in a recent tweet after the Ed the Sock video came out, but we didn't go much further than a giving his Facebook activity a quick glance.

Ed also interviews another yellow vester who goes by the name Chris Sky on Facebook. He's also in Rick Boswick's 'Facts vs Feelings' Facebook group and 'likes' the racist National Citizens Alliance.

/4 pic.twitter.com/gUxUJbqlwq

— YVCE 🧛‍♂️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♂️🧛‍♀️ (@VestsCanada) May 9, 2020

As stated in the initial tweet, 'Chris Sky' is a member of multiple far-right Facebook groups, and has promoted the racist National Citizens Alliance.

The yellow vests are known for being xenophobic and anti-Muslim.

Facts vs Feelings is Rick Boswick's YouTube channel.

Upon further investigation we found out that 'Chris Sky' is actually Chris Saccoccia, and his far-right activities go a little further than just being a member of certain Facebook groups. Chris is also the vice president for a prominent Toronto real estate developer, SkyHomes.

Saccoccia accusing another account of impersonating him 

Chris isn't the only Saccocia at SkyHomes. Art Saccoccia, a well-respected and prominent business owner who shares Chris' last name, heads the company.The relationship between the two is not clear. 

We've found him making bigoted posts in far-right Facebook groups as well as on his own wall.

Chris Saccoccia promoting the white supremacist and conspiratorial Great Replacement Theory on a Yellow Vests page

Saccoccia was an active poster in the early days of the Canadian Yellow Vest movement

Chris promoting the conspiracy theory that Muslims set fire to Notre Dame.

He doesn't just share racist and Islamophobic viewpoints, but homophobic as well

In addition to the bigotry that he's been peddling online, he's also promoted anti-vaccination, 5G conspiracies, and climate change denier content.

 

David Icke has been banned from YouTube and Facebook for spreading misinformation about COVID-19.

Film your hospital is a campaign started by COVID-19 deniers attempting to downplay the virus.

On top of all the misleading and bigoted things he is sharing, according to him his job is an essential service and his business never shut down.

Saccoccia's wife, Jenny, is also sharing Covid-19 conspiracies across Telegram to her 73,000 followers, and using her platform to promote her husband's political activities. Interestingly, Jenny Saccoccia's Instagram account was apolitical until the pandemic, and used largely to promote her modeling.

Jenny promoted husband Chris at the rallies

Like so many involved with the far-right Chris and Jenny Saccoccia appear to be an opportunists looking for attention and seeking power. It's unclear what kind of influence they have on the overall anti-lockdown movement in Toronto, however their reach and presumably affluent social circles, Chris Saccoccia's racism, along with spreading dangerous conspiracy theories, are concerning.

We along with other researchers will continue to monitor the 'anti-lockdown' rallies for more far-right and fascist involvement. 

Update:
Chris Saccoccia appears to be joining the right-wing grift game. According to him he wants to pursue a class action lawsuit against the government for the lockdown.