Updated: Wed Mar. 18 2009 17:43:52

ctvcalgary.ca

Police arrested four protestors outside the site of the luncheon speech by former U.S. president George W. Bush Tuesday.

Protestors were arrested after some became angry when one person was arrested in front of the Telus Convention Centre.

The crowd followed police to the street during the arrests but eventually returned back to the front of the building.

They called Bush a war criminal and many held signs and banners to protest his policies in Iraq. 

Charges of breach of peace, obstructing police, and public behaviour were laid.

There is tight security at the convention centre but police did been allowing protestors to stand in front of the Convention Centre despite attempts to have the protest staged one block away in Olympic Plaza.

Those attending the luncheon said despite Bush's reputation, they were interested in hearing what he had to say.

The speech was supposed to begin at noon but it didn't get underway until about two hours late.

To see more CTV Calgary viewer pictures of the protest, click here

Comments are now closed for this story

FM in Calgary
kristina, what you wrote is probably the most ignorant thing I have read in a long time! What century are you living in?!?! You want to talk about Bush's attempts to "sustain family life" why don't you go and talk to the families in Canada and America who have lost family members in the war, or talk to the people who are discriminated against in their own country because they are gay. Get a grip! You should probably stay in whatever hole you are living in that makes you think what you wrote is right while the rest of the world progresses

John
I wonder if any of the angry protestors were Calgary or even Canada? Were they paid idiots that travel around for interest groups and cause disturbances at protests?

Tamara - Calgary
Having read each and every comment, I think that there is one thing missing here. Have we forgotten that George Bush was the president when 9/11 happened? It was a sad and scary day and Americans, and most of the world, were crying for revenge. More than two thousand innocent people died that day... what was he to do? If he did nothing, Americans would have overthrown him and done something anyway. He chose to do something and things got out of hand. How would any of us have handled it differently? The responsibility we place on people in office is huge! They ARE going to make mistakes, they ARE human. I wouldn't say that George Bush was a bad apple, but he did make some bad choices. I'm more afraid of Obama ... I don't think that what you see is what you get with him.
On another note, those that had $400 to spend to go see Bush could have spent the money more wisely, perhaps on folks here that need an extra hand.
Taking care of our own, that's what we need to do right now in this economic crisis. Protesting what has happened in the past does nothing for the present. Protesting current behaviours/decisions now is more productive and can bring about real change.
Come on! We're Canadians! We're smarter than this! We are more compassionate than this! We have more class than this!

Dave S
Where are all these people when their own Mayor continues to make Calgary look stupid
Never mind former president of US. I think Sean said it best

John Brown
These are not "Anti-Bush" protestors as the heaadline describes. They are "Anti-Anything-They-Disagree-With" protestors. They'll scream in your face until you cave in to their limited view of the world. Doesn't matter what their cause is: anti-sealing, anti-bush, anti-fur, anti-Stampede... the list goes on an on and the actors are all the same.

Tim from Calgary
Attempt successful attempt for media attention by a very small protest of only 200 people representing a whole 0.02% of Calgary's population. It's the same self-righteous people who organize and attend these meetings time after time. The rest of us are too busy working to attend such nonsense.

Yawn
Who cares??? He is no longer the president, let it go. These people need a new hobby!

TaserBushShoeHim
The Chamber should shamed for inviting a war criminal. Bush has disgraced the purpose of the United Nations and has lied to the world about wmd's.

Jeff in Calgary
Love GW or hate him, he held a post for eight years, that had him in a position that only 43 (give or take) other men have ever held; President of the United States. I, for one, would be interested to hear what he had to say. Granted, I'm not prepared to pay $400 for that opportunity. As for the protesters, let them exercise their freedom, as long as they're not breaking the law.

Robert Beckett
When Canada signed the Rome Statute in 2001 we made it our law to prosecute 'war criminals'. Flip to the 'war' section of a current Martins Canadian Criminal Code and you can read it for yourself.

GWB launched an aggressive invasion of another country after failing to gain UN approval, even after American intimidation and bribery of the voting countries.

He has openly violated the UN charter, the Nuremberg principals, the Geneva Convention, Red Cross standards and therefore 'international law' as we know it. This is well documented in both the media and by internal American investigations.

The Canadian government ignored our laws and allowed GWB to freely enter and leave our border because Harper (like previous Prime Ministers) runs Canada as a de facto U.S colony, thereby hoping to gain a 'special relationship' with them like the British government has. America relies on our natural resources to fuel itself and shares our border, so it incorporates us as a natural part of its imperial machinery.

How long did Scotland remain independent of Britain?

A large number of Canadians find this state of affairs unpalatable and so engage in doublethink to escape these fairly simple facts.

Happy to be safe and free in Calgary
I have two comments:
1) I am so embarassed to be a Calgarian. People, get a life. What do you think protesting a FORMER President will accomplish?

2) He can't be all that bad, how many major terrorist attacks were allowed to happen in North America after 9/11? None. He must have done something right.

jeff
$400 to see George Bush!!! I guess the economy is not as bad as the RICH make it out to be. I wonder how many of those people that saw Bush speak are getting some Government money to make through these hard times?

Iain in Calgary
So the lesson is this:

If you fabricate a war which results in thousands of American and Iraqi deaths, then bankrupt your country paying for that war, you get rewarded with six figure paycheques for your speaking engagements.

If you protest against that guy, you get arrested.

George Orwell got it right.

Heather from Calgary
I can't believe people in this city would pay to see him. If they have spare money put it to something useful and help the people out of work thanks to his braindead leadership. He is the cause of the mess the world is in and it would have sent a message if no one would have shown up.
What happened to free speech. The protesters are the only ones that should have been there.

Swats
YES!!
These people do have jobs, protesting the despicable acts of environmental destruction, torture and war crimes. Get into the real world and WAKE UP. The Bush legacy needs to be protested, the damage he has inflicted on the world is irreversible.

JAY IN CALGARY
Some protestors got out of hand but the calgary pigs are too power hungry and just arrest anyone for anything!

I was in ottawa in sept for a protest and the cops were far more respectful and welcomed us and even expressed there own views.

And to the guy who said the guy looks like hes resisting and was stiring up crap, well no he's as a matter of fact a former soilder who was just questioning why the guy in the back of a police van was arrested before him and they just threw him down on the road and kneeed him in the back and treated him like a rag doll it's to bad global and CTV can't show the full story !!!

And ya right we all need to thank bush for what? ? ?

He screwed over the world massivly and is all oil oil oil, A guy who came out after the speech said I should be thanking him cause its people like him that keep my house warm to which I agree but ya what else am I supposed to really use, The government and energy companys are not really working to hard to provide us with other services or options to heat my house with that are cost effective, But oil will only last soo long and maybe I'll be dead before it runs out but what are they going to do when it does run out what plans are being put in place to keep the world functioning ?

Shane L.
TO ALL THESE PEOPLE POSTING NARROW MINDED COMMENTS:

G.W. BUSH'S LEGACY WILL NOT BE A GOOD ONE. HE HAS DONE A LOT OF DAMAGE TO THE WORLD SINCE HE'S BEEN IN OFFICE; HOWEVER THE LAST TIME I CHECKED, CANADA PROMOTED FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

THESE PEOPLE HAVE A RIGHT TO HAVE THEIR VOICES HEARD TOO.

Melanie
after seeing the protesters we are so upset we didn't make the effort and go and support the former President. We will never forget 911 and W's response and how he kept the Good Old USA safe. Also appreciate how he has been good to Canada's beef industry, Imports and Exports took out Hussein and saved the real tortured in the world...the Arab world should have taken care of Saddam and his 79 palaces (why didn't anyone protest the real criminals of the world-Saddam, Castro, etc...)and his starving, tortured ppl long ago, why did it take Mr.Bush-911!!!
WE will miss W. and history will record a more positve and very differnt legacy then what we read about at this time or see in our media...

Bev.
It is a shame that these know little misguided protestors get so much media time.
Pres. Bush was one of the better Presidents the US has had and he should be welcomed with admiration and not booed by miscontents who have no idea of facts but have been brainwashed by left wing media and propaganda.
Canadians should be ashamed to act like that.
The criminals are those who protested and they should be arrested and taken to jail charged with misleading our youth and slander.

LK
I as weel feel that these people should be thrown in jail. Freedom of speech, yes. Freedom to be violent, disruptive and destructive, NO.

George W. is irrelevant. Obama will be a larger problem than GW could ever have hoped to be.

Blaming George for the economic crisis!! Educate yourselves. Then comment.

Innocent Iraqis? Probably innocent Afgans as well that are killing our soldiers while they help build schools, water plants and every other kind of infrastructure these countries need.

Chris (In Calgary)
To all the Anti-Bush folks out there! I am sorry to say you folks are absolutely the scariest people I've ever met. It disturbs me to no end the freedoms in which you folks enjoy. The freedom from responsibility you all have. Yet the manner in which you choose to be critical of Mr. Bush. I don't see one of you offering to step up to the plate to do his job; or picking up a rifle to stand a post. Until you get out of your arm chair president mind set and you know what it's like you have no valid voice.

Mr. Bush was far from perfect. I challenge you to do better.

Craig
Kristina - Ideologies like yours are the exact reason why people are so passionate and vocal in opposing intolerant conservative policies such as those delivered by the Bush Administration. Obama is already on the right track!!

Juan Rodriguez
Bush is the just as bad as the Devil itself!. A war criminal like bush should not be allowed to be free. Thousands of inocent people have died because of his actions.

laura in calgary
I always get a kick out of those who claim that George Bush is stupid or ineffective. Funny how none of the accusers in the crowd are known for anything other than being against something. He had to have a certain level of street smarts to be only 44th out of hundreds of millions of Americans to get it together enough to win not one but two presidential elections. Pretty significant achievement for an idiot. We would be wise to listen, even if we disagree.

James Crowley - Calgary
It is doubtful if there was any president in American history as vilified by the press and public as was Harry S. Truman at the time he left office in 1953. Dwight Eisenhower was "The Great Messiah" of the day and he was immensely popular.

Today George W. Bush certainly rivals Harry Truman as perhaps the most unpopular of all presidents at the time he left office. Some 56 years after leaving office, history now views Harry Truman as one of the better presidents the United States has known having made some very, very unpopular decisions during his tenure in office but which for the most part were the right decisions although not viewed to be so in the court of public opinion of the time. History can not say the same of his successor.

History will time us in time what kind of a president George W. Bush was, not a bunch of card waving protestors with some unspecified agenda. In time, we'll also see how his successor fares on the job.

Bill G
The protesters are an embarrassment to Calgary. Does free speech exist here or not? Your ideology seems to say it doesn't.

TM
Bush was not perfect but who is?? The current mess of the US banking system was caused by Clinton not Bush. Those who think Obama is any better than any other government leader should look a little further under the surface. When talking about government there is always more going on behind closed doors than will ever be "reported" on.

Patrick in Calgary........
You all need to do some U-Tubing, The American, Mexican, and Canadian Govenments have all signed documents, setting in motion a series of events that many people do not understand.

Do some searching look for The North American Union...

As well do some more searching, and look up the RFID Chip.

Joe... Joe.. Joe... what do you know?? Nothing!!
I have to agree with DC in Alberta on this one.

Joe Conservative.. Get off your pulpit and next time check your facts before you start babbling.

Jay in Calgary
The world is always gray, never black or white. When it comes to tough decisions, leaders are will always be damned if they do and damned if they don't. This comes from the fact that the general public generally doesn't understand what's really at stake, and is short sighted. Remember Hind sight is 20/20, and let's the public (e.g. the protestors) be righteous when judging their leaders; everyone becomes an expert.

That being said, leaders such as Bush should be respected, and defintely listened to.

Jody in Calgary
To Only in Calgary

"Only good old redneck Calgary would turn out in droves to see this unindicted war criminal."

Don't be so nasty. First off, they are not turning out "in droves". Second, don't forget there are 50,000 (yes, Fifty THOUSAND) Americans living in Calgary. The majority of his audience are Americans.

Jody in Calgary
To Garrison....
"Don't any of these people have jobs to be at? They don't seem to really be in touch with the realities of the world. Simply sad!"

You must be referring to the people attending the luncheon.

Denise
Good grief. What a pointless, ridiculous protest!

Benny Guan from Edmonton
Come on people leave George Bush alone and lets stop protesting. Hope George Bush speech is good today than people might like that and might think differently of him.

Sean
I do not agree with any of George Bush's policies or how he managed the US while he was in office, however I am not willing to make myself look like an idiot standing in front of a luncheon he is speaking at just to protest. We are Calgarians and even more Canadians and we should hold ourselves to a higher standard when hosting guests to our city and country. It is fine to disagree with his policies and how his administration managed things. (No one denies it was messed up) but we should extend the same courtesy to him as we would any other visitor to our country. If you don't agree with what he has to say, don't go to see him... that simple.

Khalid Baig
To Stacey Lu and Jim: These are the people who used have life but not anymore, they used to energy but not anymore, they used to go to jobs but not anymore, they do not have to be in touch with reality as they themselves are reality. These are the poeple who do not have life, they are themselves are homeless, they do not have energy and they are real people who came to this situation becuase of your friend George W. Bush.

I think you guys needs to start realizing the impact the former President has cause in this World or perhaps you would realize when you situation would be same as people you have commented for.

Merle Terleski
I was there at the rally with my "support George Bush" sign,
Bush managed to keep N. America safe post 9-11 and he should be thanked for this.
Let these people try this kind of protest in Havana or Tehran?
If someone had thrown a shoe at Saddam that person we all know would be dead.
What a disgrace these people are-Welcome to Alberta Mr. President

Tom
Anyone who went to see this clown should be ashamed, especially those who paid $400 to see him! He did absolutely nothing good to any country, and I do not understand why he is celebrated like this. He is a shame for the world and the United States.

DC in AB
Oh Joe Conservative. How out of touch with the real world you are...

1. Obama never promised to pull out of NAFTA. It was something leaked from his campaign, but never a promise or official.
2. Mandatory federal service is not fascism. Perhaps you need to look it up in a dictionary...
3. He didn't approve any kind of torture. I don't know where you get that from.
4. Wants a big war in Afghanistan? Again...
5. Great wars did not bankrupt all countries. Look at the economy of the US and Canada post WWII... absolutely hot, with very little problems. No bankruptcy there.
6. Just a really big number? Marshal law? What??

Robert Shoetosser
I was proud of the protesters. The knowledge of the Bush administrations legal and ethical transgressions was obviously well understood. George Bush, you are an unresolved issue. A million innocent dead Iraqi's. Very unresolved!

Brent
George who? What about all the Obamabots? Where are they? Oh right, they were at the convention centre.

Brian
The only reason Bush is in Calgary is because no other Canadian City would have him (smart)! What could this man possibly have to say that anyone cares about! Just ignore him!!!

Only in Calgary
Well at least they didn't get arrested by Bush himself and wake up in Guantanamo or a CIA interrogation centre in some other country he raped and pillaged.
Only good old redneck Calgary would turn out in droves to see this unindicted war criminal. Probably paid for their tickets with the stocks they shorted after their hero drove the world capital markets into the ground.
Jail to the Chief!

Nancy
His term in office and moral standards are what people are protesting...If his term in office had been better than I think the world would have been better off now.

Jason in Calgary
I hope our police gave these protesters a good helping from a tazer or pepper spray. Looks like the guy in the picture isn't co-operating much and needs a reality check.

What's done is done. Lets move on. This is the Canadian way, protest after the fact.

I give this protest a great big LAME rating.

Proud Calgarian
Stand for something or you'll fall for anything... and so history continues to teach us.

He is in fact a war criminal.

calgary911truth
to say lock up people for freedom of speech is the hallmark of nazi germany and communist nations as far as violent protesters go there are peaceful ones that opose violence as a means to an end unlike bush, and when u look at violent protesters they are usually government provacatures like in montebello where the local RCMP admited to dressing up police as anarchists to unleash riot patrol on the peaceful protesters but were caught on camera and had to admit it , how bot throwing them in jail for violent crimes but yet the government protects them? people have the right to peaceful protest even if u disagree thats your freedom of speech to disagree remember you wouldnt like it if someone threw you in jail for having the freedom of speech to say u disagree with freedom of speech?

Cody in Calgary
Ummm I find it quite funny when people try to blame Bush for ruining the economy. You are givng him way to much credit. Clinton is just as much to blame as Bush is. As for the protestors.....how sad, maybe educate yourself instead of acting like fools.

Steve S
so what if Bush is not the president anymore? the mistakes that he had made are still here. Good for the protestors to stand there and show what they think.. Everyone was quick on criticizing Bush when he was the president, but now people seem to forget that he had killed thousands of innocent soldiers. Berttuzi breaks some guys neck and everyone still talks about it and Bush kills thousands of people and some people think its time to move on. WAKE UP!!!!! He should not get away with this

Garrison
Mary - a reality check. The War on Terror did not cause the financial crisis. People borrowing more than they could afford, living on credit, and buying homes with mortgages that they could not afford once the mortgages were reset led to the meltdown.

Amirra
I don't agree with anything to idiot did either, but really - what's protesting going to accomplish? What a waste of time...like another poster said - don't these people have jobs??

Liz
Since there's a new President who, from the looks of it, plans on rectifying George Bush's horrendous mistakes, what's the point in protesting his visit? His damage has been done; luckily he's not in a position to do much more. Let it go.

Joe Conservative
It's a shame the Bush administration, who won the first election promising a humble foreign policy, embarked on just the opposite path with two wars and tripling government spending.

We ought to pay attention to the future though. Presently Obama is blatently breaking his election campaign promises.
Obama the great, the saviour, in his first few months of office has:
-Approved the Bush administration telephone wire tapping program
-first said troops will be withdrawn from Iraq in 16 months, but that changed to 23 months
-promised to withdraw from NAFTA but told Canadian officials not to worry about it
-wants mandatory service from young people to the federal government = fascism
-approved torturing, but to move it out of Guantanamo bay
-Obama wants a big war in Afghanistan = war mongerer. Bush wasn't a war mongerer at the start and it turned out bad. Now you have Obama that wants that Afghanistan war off the bat, it will bankrupt America as all wars have bankrupt great countries over the course of history
-the stimulus bill: the way they came up with $700 billion was that the democrats just "wanted a really big number", and some members of congress were told there would be marshal law if they didn't vote for it. If you thought Bush was bad, its not looking too bright for Obama

You can see all of this through and internet news search.

The old boss is starting to look like the new boss. Be cautious of charismatic political leaders

Calgarian
How embarrassing. Sure doesn't make me proud to be a Calgarian today. Nice national news story this will make. These protestors always get out of control, it never fails. Put them in jail & thwow away the key.

dumped in our back yard
what could this Clown have to say that anyone would want to hear?

Mary in Calgary
He is the reason the world is in this Financial Crisis. His "war on terror" nearly drove America bankrupt! He has nothing good to offer us Canadians... much less his new "career" as a public speaker is just appalling.

kristina
I understand that Bush has made some mistakes, but who hasn't. Yes he was a leader of a country but no one is perfect. he knows he made mistakes. I just wish people would leave him alone. He did the best he could. He put into place things that would help sustaint the family life (like trying to make abortion illegal and gay marriage illegal - both of which destroy family and not build it up) and look what Obama is doing - completely undoing it all. I respect and admire Bush for what he did accomplish and forgive him for the mistakes he made. Only because he was the president does he get this scrutenized. No one else would have been.

Garrison
Don't any of these people have jobs to be at? They don't seem to really be in touch with the realities of the world. Simply sad!

Jim in Calgary
It's so embarassing to see the long line of rich white people ready to see Bush in Calgary. There is only so much environment to destroy and people to torture Calgary, WAKE UP.

Stacey Lu
These people need to get a life!! This guy isn't the president anymore....who cares.
These people should be putting their energy into helping the homeless or educating people on STD...something.