Toronto Attack Rebounds On Alt-Right

A hired van has mounted a pavement at speed and mown down several pedestrians in the Canadian city of Toronto. Ten people have been killed; several others have been injured. As the BBC has reported, “Police said the suspect in the van mounted the kerb on Yonge Street between Finch Avenue and Sheppard Avenue at about 13:30 local time (17:30 GMT) on Monday and drove into pedestrians along a 1km (0.6-mile) stretch”.

There was more. “One witness told City News that the driver was ‘hitting anything that comes in the way … People, fire hydrants, there's mail boxes being run over,’ said the unnamed man, who said he was driving behind the van during the incident. As the van continued, the man said he sounded his horn to try to warn pedestrians. ‘I witnessed at least six, seven people being hit and flying in the air, like killed, on the street,’ he said".

It did not take long for the wrong assumptions to be made. Natasha Fatah, who lists areas such as “War. Terror. Islamism” on her Twitter bio, was on the case: “#BREAKING Witness to truck ramming into pedestrians tells local Toronto TV station that the driver looked wide-eyed, angry and Middle Eastern”. Middle Eastern? Ezra Levant of The Rebel was up for an RT of that. And then the real wackos got stuck in.

Battersea bedroom dweller Paul Watson, who has previously warned his fellow fringe idiots not to jump to conclusions, took one look at the unfolding drama, and decided … to jump to conclusions. “9 dead in Toronto, authorities confirm it was a terrorist attack. Terrorist described as ‘Middle Eastern’. ‘Motive unknown.’” Nudge nudge, eh?

And when the Mayor of Toronto failed to agree with him, Watson went further. “A jihadist has just killed 9 people and the Mayor is already out virtue signalling”. Would anyone else out there on the alt-right care to back up that evidence-free conclusion?

You bet they would. After Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said his thoughts were with all those affected, Katie Hopkins snorted “Ten dead Trudeau. Ten. No one needs your thoughts. Do not say you carry on as normal. That you ‘stand united’. Those dead men, women and children do not. Their families do not. You brought this. You are complicit in it. Politicians like you are terrorist shills. #TorontoAttack”.

Yeah, it was terrorism, right? And in case you didn’t hear it first time, Hatey Katie was there to ram it home: “PR comms plan 1) Build vigil plus tea candles for press pack 2) Turn off Eiffel Tower 3) Public ceremony with pro-diversity globalist - (ensure diverse front row) 4) Talkers: We Stand United. We carry on as normal. 5) Stand & repeat with Muslim leaders #torontovanattack”. What’s the Eiffel Tower got to do with it? Whatever.

Then came the news that the driver of the hire van was called Alek Minassian. There was brief excitement among the alt-right as it was realised that the surname was Armenian, and some Armenians live in Scary Muslim Countries like Iran. But Minassian was not a Muslim. He was, in fact, radicalised by the same alt-right who were now trying to pin the attack on Islam. He was an angry young man who couldn’t get laid.

So just like so many more in the alt-right, then. What you will not read in the papers.