There's nothing like being followed around by a uniformed officer to make you feel like a free man. Or, via The Hook:
"The police took a special interest in an anti-Olympics speaking tour’s Kelowna stop this week. And while the cops say they were just doing what’s necessary to keep the Olympics safe, critics contend their actions were intimidating and an attack on the right to dissent.
About 15 minutes before the Jan. 19 talk began, according to event organizers, a uniformed RCMP officer dropped by the Okanagan College classroom where it was being held to check on what was happening.
Once the talk was over, one of the speakers, Aboriginal activist Ska-Hiish Manuel, was approached in the college parking lot by a waiting member of the special Vancouver 2010 Joint Intelligence Group.
“He made me feel uncomfortable,” said Manuel, noting that it was dark and that he was by himself.
According to Manuel, the officer identified himself as Greg Smith, produced his badge and handed Manuel his card. Manuel quickly snapped a picture of the officer with his cellphone.
Manuel says he told the officer he had no interest in speaking to him and kept walking to his car. Smith however, kept following him.
“I told him to stop following,” said Manuel. “I was pretty thrown off. I wasn’t expecting that.”
Feeling scared, Manuel said, he decided to turn around and re-enter the college. Smith did not pursue him and when Manuel left a second time --accompanied by one of the other speakers -- the officer was gone.
Contacted on his cellphone, Smith would not say why he was trying to talk to Manuel and directed all inquiries to the intelligence group’s media relations office."
Read the rest here.
Isn't it just absolutely sad that things have come to this? Mind you, not that it's the first time the police have gotten involved in people's lives because of their opinions regarding the upcoming Olympic Games.
Indeed, between that, the difficulties that outspoken journalists have had at the border, and elected representatives like Burquitlam MLA Harry Bloy blathering on about Olympic protesters being 'terrorists,' one might get the impression that certain groups have a vested interest in assuring the outcome of the Games, no matter their feasability.
Not that it'll do them much good. Pushing people around is never a good idea; and pushing activists around never ends well. Even if BC can pull off the Olympics, a very bitter memory, which I am sure that people such as myself will be more than willing to keep alive, will emerge of government interference in the lives of BC's citizens. At this rate, by the time the Olympics come to a close the record of interference will just be the record of a rather pathetic attempt to keep a half-dead project alive.
