Smattering of protesters, empty sites on final day of G7 summit
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CALGARY — More than 50 Sikh protesters continued their demonstration Tuesday outside Calgary City Hall on the second and final day of the G7 leaders’ summit.
The number was down from Monday’s numbers, but dozens of blue and yellow Khalistan flags, along with two Canadian flags, were waved during the demonstration.
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There was drumming, chanting and a life-size replica of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in prison garb.
Modi arrived late Monday to the meeting of world leaders in nearby Kananaskis, Alta.
Canada was hosting leaders from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy and the European Union. Leaders from several non-member countries, including Modi, were also invited.
Protesters were outraged that Prime Minister Mark Carney invited Modi to the event, but Sikhs for Justice spokesman Kuljeet Singh said in the end it wasn’t an issue.
“Whether he was on Canadian soil or not, it really doesn’t matter. For us, it’s to continue to push our message,” he said.
“It gave us this opportunity to get together and send our message of the crimes that India is committing.”
Last fall, the RCMP accused Modi’s government of having a role in murder, coercion and extortion in Canada. In 2023, then prime minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian government agents of being involved in the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The city hall rally was held in one of three designated protest zones in Calgary. The zones were created by police, who urged demonstrators to make their message heard there rather than risk arrest by disrupting roads or otherwise creating public disturbances.
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The zones — two in Calgary and one in nearby Banff — were active but not overwhelmed over the weekend and into the first day of the summit Monday.
By Tuesday, the second Calgary protest site was empty.
In Banff, tourists walking around town and preparing for a day of excursions were the main signs of activity. The designated protest zone near the edge of town, where no more than 50 people had gathered the day before, sat empty.
The zones had seen labour, youth, Indigenous, political and environmental activists ahead of and during the summit. Some protested U.S. President Donald Trump, but the majority of the demonstrators were Sikhs rallying against Modi.
The demonstrators have long been advocating for an independent Sikh state in India, known as Khalistan. It has presented a challenge to Modi’s government that resulted in tensions between Canada — and its large Sikh community — and India.
— With files from Matthew Scace in Banff.
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