Peter Smith
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
Image released by Nashville police of Ryan McCann (left) and a screen capture from a Goyim Defense League stream of the alleged assault. Source: MNPD and Telegram
A Canadian man who participated in a rally of a well-known neo-Nazi group has been charged with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct after he allegedly used a flag pole to strike a local bartender.
Ryan Scott McCann from Ontario is being held in lieu of an $81,000 bond, according to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. A notice attached to his file since the arrest also indicates that he is “not eligible for release” and that McCann has been sent to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
McCann was reportedly participating in a neo-Nazi protest that included multiple individuals waving Nazi flags and spouting white supremacist rhetoric on the afternoon of July 14. Police say they were monitoring the protest as it took place.
As the demonstrators walked from the protest site, an “employee of one of the local bars” allegedly got into a physical altercation with some of the participants. Police report witnessing McCann wielding his flag pole as a weapon.
“As the parties became separated, McCann was seen striking Buck in the face and in the ribs with the flagpole,” police said.
The bar employee was also arrested on misdemeanour charges of disorderly conduct and resisting police. Police say his bond was set at $2,000.
Images from Nashville over the weekend show the Goyim Defence League (GDL) staging a protest, including its founder Jon Minadeo II, better known online as Handsome Truth. The GDL is an antisemitic neo-Nazi organization and network best known for holding protests and engaging in activism such as banner drops, protests, and mass postering campaigns across North America.
Video posted on the encrypted chat app Telegram appears to capture the assault. Minadeo is shown marching in front of a series of restaurants and businesses waving a black and red swastika flag. The video cuts to him giving a Roman salute (the high straight-armed salute used by fascists during the Second World War) and yelling “white power” at a crowd of GDL members across the street.
An altercation suddenly breaks out, causing Minadeo to run across the road. A single man is seen fighting several of the demonstrators. When Minadeo and another member grab hold of the man, others rush in and start punching and kicking him. One of the men dressed in a GDL shirt and holding a flag pole thrusts it at the restrained man.
Screen capture of video showing the moment a GDL protester strikes a man with a flagpole. Source: Telegram
Video from the event shows the bartender being placed in handcuffs while members of the crowd tell police he was “stabbed” with a flagpole. During the arrest, a member of the GDL can be heard yelling “You’re going to jail, n****r.”
The same video shows McCann standing next to Minadeo watching the arrest and talking with police officers. He is wearing the same clothes as the man seen on video with the flagpole.
Screen capture of Ryan McCann during the protest in Nashville. To his right is Jon Minadeo II, AKA Handsome Truth. Source: Reddit
Most often, the GDL encourage supporters to print off and poster their local communities with GDL flyers that include antisemitic accusations against Jewish people. Their rallies often involve fascist symbols, like the swastika flags pictured during the Nashville event, as well as hurling verbal abuse and slogans at passersby.
While banned from most social media spaces, the GDL has developed its own streaming platform to host Minadeo’s video content, as well as material produced by other like-minded content creators. While primarily a US-focused network, members of the Canadian white nationalist network Diagolon use the GDL’s platform to host their live streams.
Minadeo has frequently appeared on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) conference calls, called Spaces, with people from within the Diagolon community, including to give advice to Cullen Carver, a young man covered by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network for his connections to Diagolon and his attempts to join the board of his local riding association.
The GDL raises funds through the sale of racist and pro-Nazi merchandise, which currently includes everything from busts of Adolf Hitler to clothing branded with the group's antisemitic slogans and imagery.
