PETA volunteers were handing out information on going Vegan. They were also wearing thongs, with "GO VEG" on their butts.
There were only a handful of protesters. But, apparently, this required a large law enforcement presence. At least four police officers (not seen), plus some by-law officers (one here) came by. Most of the time, they weren’t saying or doing anything, other than watching.
If they want to watch on their free time that’s perfectly fine. But I’m not sure this is a great use of tax payers funds, given the fact the police insist they’ll have to cut back drastically on street patrolls, if they’re not given all the money they want.
I could see more police presence if the protesters were drawing huge crowds or were disruptive, but they weren’t. They obviously drew attention, but it was really no big deal.
Even if the protesters did something illegal (no reason to believe they did, though there may be a bylaw restricting where you can hand out material without a permit), but remained peaceful and co-operative (as they were), then that would take two officers five minutes to deal with.
What they should have done, is have all those officers patrol the larger downtown area, and have a couple occassionally stop and check all is well at this spot.
I know this sounds negative to the police and city. But, I’ve seen a constant pattern, for years, of police throwing excessive resources at small peaceful protests, while insisting they don’t have the needed resources to deal with major crime.
Photographer: Robert Thivierge
| Date Taken | 2010-08-20 12:49:32 |
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