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artur pawlowski
MAGA Pastor Arrested On Tarmac After Returning From 4-Month Tour Of Spreading COVID Conspiracies
Upon returning from an anti-vaccine and anti-mask speaking tour catering to MAGA crowds in the United States, Artur Pawlowski—anti-LGBTQ+ pastor for the Cave of Adullam church in Calgary, Alberta, Canada—was arrested on the tarmac of the Calgary International Airport.
Ron Filipkowski, shared a video of Pawlowski's arrest on his Twitter page, showing Pawlowski deliberately disobeying the requests of the arresting officer by getting on his knees and putting his hands behind his head.
Pastor Artur Pawlowski was arrested today at the airport in Calgary, after he returned from a 4 month tour of the US, where he was a darling of MAGA media. He spent every day in the US spreading lies and vaccine conspiracies on TV and speeches around the US.pic.twitter.com/9lWcKNrAJh— Ron Filipkowski (@Ron Filipkowski) 1632795059
In a follow-up tweet, Filipkowski stated Pawlowski "repeatedly violated court orders," suggesting this might have been the reason for his arrest.
He also shared images of the far-right pastor with Eric Trump, son of former President Donald Trump, as well as one of his appearances on Fox News during his US Covid misinformation tour.
Of course, he also made several appearances on Fox.pic.twitter.com/vs2pPXQIF5— Ron Filipkowski (@Ron Filipkowski) 1632795062
But, Sarah Miller, Pawlowski's lawyer, reported he was charged with "contempt of court" following an incident on June 5, though she didn't disclose any further details as to what the incident entailed.
This was not the first arrest for the far-right, anti-LGBTQ+ pastor.
Pawlowski had previously been arrested in May of this year, alongside his brother, Dawid Pawlowski, for organizing an illegal in person gathering at his church, ignoring Covid-19 mandates regarding masks and social distancing.
Pawlowski used his arrest as an opportunity to spout his far-right, anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs on tour in the United states, painting himself the victim on Fox News for being arrested—in his version of reality—for "enticing people to come to church" and begging viewers for "help in Canada."
"You have been, historically speaking, a giant, a great eagle, that is always coming to our aid."
"Canada has been taken over by communism, socialism, fascistic hybrid."
The Polish born Pawlowski, who owned a construction business prior to becoming a pastor in Canada, made several headlines for his far right, bigoted hate speech long before his arrests.
In 2013, he wrote on the website of his church the floods happening in the province of Alberta, Canada at the time were God's punishment for the "perversion of homosexuality."
In 2017, Pawlowski organized a rally titled "In Defense of Christianity" alongside anti-gay and anti-abortion activist Bill Whatcott, which quickly turned violent.
Pawlowski has spent most of this past year fighting regulations regarding Covid-19, namely all the restrictions placed on his church, even calling the Canadian police and health inspectors "Nazis" for enforcing the mandates.
This led to Pawlowski's first appearance on Fox News, where he compared the police entering his church on Easter to his childhood growing up in communist Poland.
He said:
"Police officers could break into your house five in the morning, they could beat you up, torture, they could arrest you for no matter what reason they would come up with."
The police in this instance had a very clear reason for why they entered his church—the disobedience of social distancing mandates and wearing masks during a global pandemic.
The police did not physically harm a single member of Pawlowski's congregation.
Pawlowski's history of bigoted, hate filled rhetoric resulted in a fair amount of celebration on Twitter following his arrest.
Sweet.— Peachy Dory (@Peachy Dory) 1632795117
Canadian street preacher, homophobe, and COVID-denier Artur Pawlowski was arrested for violating Canadian lockdown rules when he returned from preaching at Clay Clark's latest "Reawaken America" antivax speaking-in-tongues fest.https://twitter.com/JaneQCitizen/status/1442585979370442753\u00a0\u2026— Mike Rothschild (@Mike Rothschild) 1632782372
It\u2019s a beautiful thing seeing a charlatan go down.— Cal Meacham (\ud83d\udc89\ud83d\udc89and \ud83d\ude37) (@Cal Meacham (\ud83d\udc89\ud83d\udc89and \ud83d\ude37)) 1632795169
\u201cCanadian MAGA pastor Artur Pawlowski was arrested on the tarmac of Calgary International Airport as he returned home after spreading lies about Covid-19 in the US over the course of four months.\u201dhttps://twitter.com/independent/status/1442911105311916032\u00a0\u2026— Aimee Coueslan (@Aimee Coueslan) 1632854051
Pastor Artur Pawlowski was not told to kneel. He did this to make the police look bad. As is usually the case, misinformed people (Christians) fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1442673157899444225\u00a0\u2026— \ud83c\udf0e\ud83e\udded Robert Stabell- On the right side of history. (@\ud83c\udf0e\ud83e\udded Robert Stabell- On the right side of history.) 1632829482
Though Pawlowski also found support from fellow anti-vaxxers and Evangelical Christians on Twitter.
Many asked for prayers for what they viewed as religious persecution.
Pawlowski admitted he knowingly broke the law by putting the health and safety of his congregation at risk, but this didn't affect his portrayal as a victim according to his supporters.
BREAKING: Pastor Artur Pawlowski was just arrested as he landed in Canada. He faces 6 years for the crime baptizing his daughter & opening his church. Meanwhile Walmart & liquor stores can be open! Please Support him at https://streetchurch.ca\u00a0pic.twitter.com/JqLdtZ4gEs— Melissa Tate (@Melissa Tate) 1632797858
My dear Friend, Pastor Artur Pawlowski, who just preached at Patriot Church last Wednesday, returns to this in Canada for holding church services. pic.twitter.com/jw7Lg5graJ— Pastor Ken Peters - TCAPP (@Pastor Ken Peters - TCAPP) 1632781461
Please read and SHARE. We are praying for Pastor Artur Pawlowski, who heads back to Canada today to face the tyrannical judge & corrupt gov\u2019t who arrested him for preaching the gospel, feeding the homeless & baptizing his daughter. He is facing jail. How evil, but GOD WINS! pic.twitter.com/PKhJkG2kmK— Anna Khait (@Anna Khait) 1632758750
Filipkowski shared another Tweet, featuring a recording of the first call Pawlowski made from jail.
In it, the self-proclaimed MAGA pastor compared the Canadian government—specifically Alberta under Premiere Jason Kenney—to the regimes of Hitler, Stalin and Mao.
After touring the US for 4 months spreading covid and vaccine disinformation on Fox and at dozens of conferences, including one with Eric Trump, Artur Pawlowski makes his first call from jail after arrest upon return to Canada, and he compared the govt to Hitler, Stalin and Mao.pic.twitter.com/8EaHriW55y— Ron Filipkowski (@Ron Filipkowski) 1632855253
"This has everything to do with tyranny and medical tyranny."
"They are following their masters like Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Josef Stalin would probably be very, very happy right now at seeing what Kenny's government is doing."
"We have lost our freedoms, we have no rights whatsoever in this country."
Sarah Miller, secured Pawlowski's release seven hours after his arrest, on "the condition he keep the peace and be of good behavior."
As of now, Pawlowski faces up to three weeks in jail from his earlier charges back in May, as well as a number of fines.
But if his recent behavior is any indication, rules and regulation don't seem to be much of a concern for Pawlowski.
More charges could be headed his way in the not so distant future.