"Khalistanis surrounded me, threatened violence," says Canadian journo who was assualted

Times of Oman

4 days ago

Vancouver: Canadian Investigative Journalist Mocha Bezirgan, who was physically assaulted by multiple Khalistanis in Canada on Sunday, said that an assailant was also a stalker, who had been tailing him for over a year.
Bezirgan, in a conversation with ANI, said that the said Khalistani stalker doxed his movements and assaulted him in front of the police.
"Well, I'm still in Vancouver and it just happened two hours ago, not too long ago, and I'm still shaking because I was surrounded by multiple Khalistanis who acted like thugs. They surrounded me, threatened violence and they got physical with me. They grabbed my phone out of my hand in front of police, by the way," he said.
Bezirgan said that the stalker harassed him for a long time using dehumanizing language against him.
"This has been very stressful for me because this was done by an individual who has been harassing me for a very long time online using dehumanizing language against me, doxing my whereabouts," he said.
Bezirgan told ANI that he had been covering Khalistani protests and being an independent journalist, his works irk them. He added that they try to bribe him, and if that doesn't work, they threaten violence.
"I've been covering the Khalistani protests in Canada, US, UK, New Zealand. Since last year, I've been to about 30 of their events. And my only goal is to do independent journalism and record and report what's going on. And because I'm editorially independent, this frustrates some people. They want to influence me. They want to buy me. If they can't buy it, they want to threaten violence towards me. That's what this individual did," he said.
Bezirgan added that this Khalistani stalker of his is a UK citizen who is threatening him- a Canadian citizen for simply doing his job.
"He's not even a Canadian citizen. He is from the UK. He is in Canada, threatening me, a Canadian citizen trying to do his job. And yeah, I was just there reporting on the event," he said.
He said that he was reporting an event which was honouring their so-called martyrs- killers of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and minor suicide bombers.
"Khalistanis gathered to honor their so-called martyrs, including the assassins of Indira Gandhi and suicide bombers, child suicide bombers. And I was reporting on that. This was a public event in a public location. And I was within my rights to do what I was doing," he said.
He further recounted the chilling details where he was verbally threatened first and then was assaulted.
"But there was this one individual who was not even a Canadian citizen. He came up to me and started asking me questions. He was very close to my face. And I said, listen, if you want to have a conversation, sure, let's talk, but you need to keep your distance. And he would keep saying, let's go around the corner. Let's go around the corner. I'll show you around the corner if you're not scared. And I told him, yeah, I'm not scared, but let's speak here," he said.
"If you want to say something, because I'm an independent journalist, I have to be accountable. I accept challenges and I'm okay with conversations, but this individual, this was not a conversation," he added.
Bezirgan then said that as this assailant drew closer, more people joined him and the stalker kept throwing questions at him.
"He keeps coming at my face, very close proximity. I'm stepping one step back, he's stepping forward. I'm telling him to keep his distance. He's not keeping his distance. He's asking loaded questions and won't even allow me to answer. Interrupting, advancing towards me, keeping his finger and hands towards my face. This is becoming very threatening. And then all of a sudden I had two, three people surrounding me with the same physical closeness. I have nowhere to go," he said.
"And they're saying, so you're talking, you're talking about Sikhs, huh?" he added.
Bezirgan said that as he started recording the incident, the other assailants hid their faces out of fear and walked away. But there was one Khalistani who kept asking him questions. He even grabbed his phone and stopped the recording and assaulted him despite police's warning.
"At that moment, I was recording secretly from my main camera because I felt that something physical is about to happen. I was recording, but to get a better view, I started recording from my phone as well. As soon as I started recording, they turned their faces away. They are scared. But this one individual, he keeps walking towards me. I walk away, he keeps walking. And then eventually he grabbed my phone out of my hand for a moment. It stopped my recording. And when I turned back on, the police was engaging with him and telling him to stop his harassing behavior," he said.
The journalist revealed that the police exercise restraint in addressing such issues.
"Canadian police are very conservative when it comes to laying charges or making arrests. They exercise a high degree of restraint, which I do not like because that type of behavior where he's reaching for my phone, grabbing my phone, having physical contact, harassing me. And I have filed police reports about this individual about this specific individual before, for his harassment," he said.
Bezirgan expressed his disappointment at the Canadian police and called for the deportation of the assailant.
"And, you know, him being allowed to walk free is a big disappointment. I think he should be deported back to UK. He's a foreign national. He's not a citizen of Canada. What is he doing interfering with my job, interfering with the journalism of a Canadian citizen? This is unacceptable. He should be deported," he said.
Bezirgan further recounted with chills how he was stalked even after police warning.
"His harassment continued even after police warned him. And I have more footage I'm about to upload on my channel. He continued following me throughout the parade. I'm stopping, he stops. I keep walking, he keeps walking. I distance myself and then I just turn around, he's standing right behind me. I go walk across the street. He comes near standing," he said.
He added that he called the police after this Khalistani person kept stalking him even outside the premises of the event. He added that he had filed multiple complaints of this person before with the police.
"I get away from the event. He's getting away from the events with me. And then eventually I had to call 911 and be like, Hey, this behavior is continuing and officers on the ground may not be aware, but I have filed police reports about this guy before. So please let them know. And officers came and they took notes for the police report further. And then they escorted me to safety. On top of a bicycle, he followed me to the train station, and that's how I departed from the area," he said.
He added that the assailants are trying to portray him as a weakling who is running away from questions. He refuted the claims and said that this is not how someone asks questions, this was threatening.
"But, now on online platforms, they are trying to frame it as, Mocha is afraid of conversation or they are always resorting to disinformation and they are trying to portray me as someone who's afraid to have conversation when I'm being assaulted, I'm being threatened, I'm being surrounded. My phone is being grabbed from my hand," he said.
"That's not how you have a conversation. You don't go up to someone's face and don't give them any space and you keep talking and not letting them, that's not conversation. Very uncivilized and yeah, it's been, it's quite shaken me because I felt my safety was threatened," he added.
In a post on X, he said, "I've been surrounded by a group of Khalistanis who grabbed my phone out of my hand and threatened me. Naturally I'm a bit shaken, but not deterred. Footage coming."