Calgary police investigating weekend assault of radio host

A Calgary police investigation is seen in a stock photo from 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)

Calgary police say they're investigating the attack of a prominent local radio host over the weekend.

Rishi Nagar, a longtime news director for RED FM Calgary, says he was assaulted Sunday. 

Surveillance video shows two men follow Nagar out of the Rio Banquet Hall, in the city's Horizon neighbourhood. A quick conversation is shown on camera before one man starts to throw a barrage of punches at the journalist. 

Eventually, a bystander breaks up the attack and the two men flee in a vehicle.  

Nagar says they told him they were upset with recent reporting his outlet did. He says the coverage in question revolved around two weapons-related arrests last Wednesday at the Dashmesh Culture Centre. 

Both men are facing four gun-related charges as well as a charge for issuing death threats.

Speaking to media in Calgary on Tuesday with bandages over one eye, Nagar called his assault a "clear attack on journalism and the free press."

"It was a brazen attempt to intimidate, to silence and to prevent a free press from doing its job," he said. 

The host says his doctor believes his injuries have left him at risk of "retinal detachment."

Political scientist Duane Bratt thinks the attack sets a dangerous precedent. 

"This isn't an attack on one," he said. "This is an attack on all. We are already seeing hate speech against journalism. Donald Trump has called (journalists) 'the enemy of the people' and 'fake news,' and that rhetoric has come to Canada."

RED FM often reports on criminal activities affecting Calgary's South Asian community. 

Nagar says this won't slow the important coverage. 

"These cowardly actions will not deter me or my colleagues from continuing our work.

"They can break my eye, not the resolve."

Police are investigating. No arrests have been made. 

- With files from Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press