(Headline USA) Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was seen at a rally for Ukraine this weekend holding a scarf associated with a neo-Nazi group called the Bandera movement.
Freeland, who is Ukrainian, posted a photo of her holding the black and red scarf to social media but quickly deleted it. She then reposted the same message with a different photo in which the scarf had been edited out.
Sanitized for your enjoyment pic.twitter.com/CAaAMaoXdq
— Jabroni and the Air-rifle (@DanBoeckner) February 28, 2022
The rally Freeland attended also featured red and black flags, which have historically represented the Bandera movement. The far-right group was founded by Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian politician during World War 2 who was accused of crimes against Jewish and Polish people.
A huge crowd has gathered in downtown Toronto to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Footage by @PuffinsPictures pic.twitter.com/t3IJHApa8T
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 27, 2022
One critic pointed out that even though Freeland removed the red and black scarf from her second image, she still included the phrase “Slava Ukraini,” which means “Glory to Ukraine,” in her caption. The phrase is a fascist slogan used in the 1920’s by the League of Ukrainian Fascists.
He also noted Freeland’s grandfather was a Ukrainian Nazi collaborator and the editor of a Nazi newspaper during WWII:
This is Canada’s deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, posing with the banner of a Ukrainian fascist org that collaborated with Nazi Germany. The slogan “Slava Ukraїni” was invented by fascists.
Freeland follows in the footsteps of her grandpa, a Ukrainian Nazi collaborator https://t.co/DhE3X47ZDd pic.twitter.com/wNJg3pG3DF
— Benjamin Norton (@BenjaminNorton) February 28, 2022
Just a few weeks ago, Freeland and her boss, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, claimed the truckers of the Ottawa “Freedom Convoy” were Nazis who protested with “the inherent violence of a swastika on the street corner.”
