Canadian brewery attacked after posting video ‘promoting peace’

A Canadian brewery has been bombarded with abuse from hate groups for protesting against racism.

Boundary Brewing in Kelowna, British Columbia, says it has come under attack from fascist groups and was forced to delete its Facebook page after owner Oliver Glaser uploaded a video he said was intended to protest against hatred.

In the video uploaded last month, Glaser and another member of the brewing team cheer while erecting a flag in the office which reads “Antifaschistische Aktion” – a reference to the European anti-fascist movement which emerged in the late 1920s.

The slogan has since been adopted by the wider anti-fascist community. Glaser said that the video wasn’t about militant action, but was intended to “support love and tolerance.”

“I wanted to make a stand and say this is what we believe and we think it’s not cool what’s going on in the world with this resurgence in fascism and racism that is growing,” Glaser told Capital News. “My point of putting the flag up was we support love and tolerance and intolerance will not be tolerated in our brewery.”

“I put the flag up as a sort of my quiet protest,” Glaser said.

Earlier this week, the video was shared with the Facebook page of the Three Percenters – a militant alt-right group in the USA – which sent the video viral. Abusive messages came pouring into Glaser’s inbox as it was shared 80 times, reaching around 15,000 people.

“It was vile stuff they were wiring and the pictures they were posting…it was just heinous stuff,” said Glaser.

One user called the brewery “supporters of domestic tourism,” while staff were also threatened with violence.

One message, seen by Columbia Valley Pioneer, said: “I’ll be riding through Kelowna with some heavys (sic) next spring we will grab a couple cases of Kokanee gold and stop by if you’re still in business then cause some shit there.”

Boundary Brewing Co have since deleted their Facebook page and reported the incident to local police.

The attackers also turned to Google Review to discredit the independent brewery.

People turned to Google to damage the company’s rating after its Facebook page was deleted.

“Horrible beer and alway (sic) pushing their commie ideology on the customers,” read one comment by user Jeff Leovie. “Just sad.”

Glaser told reporters the attacks were giving him concerns over the safety of his staff.

“There’s a lot of scary things about this, just because I posted my politics, what I believe.”

“It was latched upon and maybe misunderstood by these guys but they are extremists. We look at this stuff and we think it’s an American problem but it’s happening here too.”

But others were also quick to defend the brewery’s peaceful protest.

Drinks blogger and Glacer’s friend Tim Vandergift, posted his own reaction to the events on social media, condemning the attackers as “Nazis.”

“It’s a funny old world where you have to keep reminding people that attacking those who speak out against Nazis is actually a form of support for Nazis.

Fans of the brewery also posted messages of support on Boundary’s Google business page to redress the damage caused.

Mattias MacLeod said in his review: “I love the staff and I love the Altbier, what I don’t love is the Alt-Right reviews here.”

“They are uncalled for and based on biased far right radical opinions. #DrinkABeerPunchANazi.”

Boundary Brewing has been contacted for comment.