Mayor backs staff decision on anarchist symbol

Mayor Fred Eisenberger is backing a city staff decision to classify the anarchist circle-A as a hate symbol.

“Certainly the anarchists that have locally presented themselves have done things that would be considered to be inappropriate, so if you tie the two of them together, I would say that’s a symbol of destruction and mayhem and causing a crisis to a particular area,” Eisenberger said Wednesday. “Is that hateful? I think it is.”

His comments came after the CBC reported the city forced The Tower — a local anarchist meeting space — to remove the symbol, which was painted on plywood, from the front window of their building on Cannon Street East in March.

The city did not provide answers to The Spectator’s questions about the classification of the symbol and the bylaw order before deadline Wednesday.

The bylaw order came just over a week after an anti-gentrification vandalism spree on Locke Street South, which police have said was connected to an Anarchist Book Fair, as well as The Tower.

A masked mob of about 30 people in black clothing marched up Locke Street on March 3, throwing rocks at cars and businesses, breaking windows, and lighting fireworks, ultimately causing about $100,000 in damage.

According to the CBC story, a city spokesperson said the City of Hamilton and Hamilton police consider the anarchist symbol to be “hate material” and that’s why they ordered its removal in March. But Hamilton police said that isn’t the case.

“Police don’t consider it to be a hate crime symbol,” Const. Lorraine Edwards told The Spectator Wednesday.

At a meeting shortly after the spree, city councillors voted to formally condemn the vandalism, with the mayor calling it “terrorism” and Coun. Terry Whitehead labelling it “gang” violence.

The letter A in a circle — one of the best known anarchist symbols — is said to represent a quotation by French politician Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, with the A standing for anarchy and the O standing for order, according to Anarchy.net.

Its origin is not known, but the symbol was reportedly used by some anarchists during the Spanish Civil War and can now often be seen spray-painted on walls or under bridges.

According to the Hamilton police website, a hate crime is a criminal offence committed against a person or property which is motivated by bias against a race, religion, ethnicity, colour, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, mental or physical disability, age or sex.

Hate propaganda can manifest itself in different forms, including derogatory pamphlets, flyers or leaflets, graffiti or recorded phone messages.