ThoughtCrime: 01/07/85
Zündel Attacked On Way to Trial
Members of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) screamed obscenities while attacking
Ernst Zündel, who questions
whether six million Jews were killed by the Nazis, outside Toronto's downtown
County Courthouse this morning.
Zuendel, a 46-year-old Toronto man charged with spreading false
news, and about 15 supporters and friends clad in protective yellow hardhats
were set upon as they walked hastily in a box-like formation toward the
courthouse.
About 15 Metro Toronto police could not hold back the 25 members
of the JDL. Several punches landed on Mr. Zuendel's supporters.
During the melee police tackled a couple of the JDL attackers
to the ground. The rhythmic chants of "Never again, never again," had changed
quickly into vulgar obsenities and taunts. There were no apparent serious
injuries. A police spokesman said four JDL members were charged with causing
a disturbance.
Inside, a packed courtroom watched as Mr. Zuendel was arraigned
on two charges of spreading false news which he knew would cause or was
likely to cause mischief to racial or social tolerance. The charges relate
to two booklets published by Mr. Zuendel, West, War, and Islam,
and Did Six Million Really Die?
Defense counsel Douglas Christie made several pre-trial motions
before County Court Judge Hugh Locke regarding the constitutionality of
the charges and the process by which the jury will be be selected. Mr. Christie,
who recently defended Albertan Jim Keegstra in a similar case, flew from
Victoria, B.C., to represent Mr. Zuendel.
In an interview, Mr. Christie decried the violence outside the
courtroom. "I've never seen people beaten on the steps of a courthouse like
that with absolute impunity," he said.
Adapted from: The Toronto Globe and Mail, January 7, 1985. See also, Michael
A. Hoffman II, "The Great Holocaust Trial, Wiswell Ruffin House 1995.
THE THOUGHTCRIMES ARCHIVE is an online examination of worldwide governmental
repression, censorship, and intimidation against those who seek
to inquire speak, and write freely about the Holocaust.
"Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death."
- George Orwell
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