Officials in Calgary, Canada, said they arrested Artur Pawlowski, a street preacher who allegedly defied local lockdowns, over the weekend.
His brother, David Pawlowski, was also taken into police custody.
Both were charged with allegedly organizing an illegal in-person gathering as well as “requesting, inciting or inviting others” to join them, according to police.
The force said that Alberta’s provincial government obtained a bench order from a court that applies to “protests, demonstrations and rallies” that imposes “new restrictions on organizers of protests and demonstrations requiring compliance with public health orders including masking, physical distancing and attendance limits.”
“It is important to understand that law enforcement recognizes people’s desire to participate in faith-based gatherings as well as the right to protest. However, as we find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic, we all must comply with public health orders in order to ensure everyone’s safety and wellbeing,” the police service added.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pawlowski brothers have held gatherings and have denied officials’ entry into their church located in Dover, Calgary, according to reports.
“I’m not interested in any word that you have to say. I do not cooperate with Gestapo, I do not talk to the Nazis,” Pawlowski told officers on Easter Sunday weekend, adding, “Brown shirts of Adolf Hitler. You are Nazi, Gestapo, communist, fascists! I do not cooperate with Nazis!”
On April 3, Pawlowski was fined $1,200 for allegedly holding a public gathering of more than 15 people at his Street Church, in violation of COVID-19 health orders.
Pawlowski, who emigrated from Poland to Canada in the 1990s, told Fox News in April that Canadian police are engaging in Soviet-like activity during the pandemic. He has also been fined repeatedly for violating public health orders by holding church services.
