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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
