Anti-masker ‘Chris Sky’ arrested

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This article was published 23/08/2021 (1004 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An anti-lockdown, anti-mask conspiracy theorist from Ontario got what he asked for in Winnipeg Tuesday.

Christopher Saccoccia, who goes by “Chris Sky”, took to social media Monday to goad police into arresting him at a “vaxxed or unvaxxed” rally in Winnipeg Tuesday.

In late May, the Winnipeg Police Service confirmed a warrant had been issued for Saccoccia for repeated violations of public health orders.

“I’ll be there, you be there and if the police want to come and get me, come and get me, I’ll be there,” he said in a video posted to Twitter Monday evening.

Saccoccia spoke at a rally of about 50 people outside the University of Winnipeg and walked away. A police squad car left with at least one person in custody.

Video posted to social media, by another speaker at the event, showed Saccoccia rounding the corner from Portage Avenue to St. Mary Avenue, when two uniformed Winnipeg Police Service officers step out from behind a bus and place him under arrest.

“We have a warrant for your arrest,” one officer said.

A short time later, a small group of his supporters yelled at other uniformed officers. One shouted: “You’re on the wrong side of history.” A man driving a truck, as traffic was held up by the arrest with police vehicles blocking the road, shouted back from behind the wheel: “Get a life!”

Back on Portage Avenue, another supporter yelled: “They just arrested him” to people assembled in front of the university.

However, Winnipeg police would not confirm if Saccoccia had been arrested Tuesday and would not say what charges are expected to be laid.

In April, he spoke at a rally of about 300 people at The Forks as the province fought the third wave of COVID-19. At the time, he was ticketed for breaking public health orders since large public and private gatherings were banned in Manitoba, and anyone from out of province was mandated to self-isolate upon arrival.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca