After denigrating George Floyd, Dan Kraft resigns as Ensemble Montréal candidate

Party leader Denis Coderre says he is disappointed that Kraft felt compelled to quit and that his post on George Floyd was misinterpreted.

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Kraft, a lecturer at the Université de Montréal, was haunted by questions about previous online statements he made, including against a black man who complained after being arrested in Ottawa on the grounds that he was driving with an expired license plate when, of In fact, it was valid.

Kraft wrote on Twitter that the person in question was simply seeking 15 minutes of fame and was getting in the way of police officers doing their job.

Several other comments came to light in recent weeks, including a comment apparently made against George Floyd, who was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis last year.

“He lived as a criminal and died as a criminal … I don’t think Floyd deserves flowers from me for being the victim of a violent police officer … I’d rather honor innocent people,” Kraft wrote of Floyd, according to an excerpt Posted on Twitter by Ted Rutland.

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In a sentence On Tuesday, Kraft announced that he was quitting the race, saying that while he spent his entire life fighting anti-Semitism and discrimination, he was the victim of online harassment.

For his part, Coderre said he was disappointed that Kraft felt compelled to withdraw from the race.

“You need to take care of yourself and your family. Dan is an amazing person. He is an academic and it is a shame that some people during the campaign are just throwing mud, ”he said.

Referring to the statement about Floyd, Coderre said it was taken out of context.

“He wasn’t after Floyd. You have to read it all, ”he said.

The Kraft blog is not available to the general public. Only those with an invitation can read the posts. Ensemble Montréal did not confirm the authenticity of the blog post, nor did the party explain the context of the quotes in question.

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