“We were worried, to be honest, that something like this would happen,” said the president of the local Legion.
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KELOWNA – An official Remembrance Day service in Kelowna was canceled, in part, out of fear that anti-vaccines would show up.
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They appeared anyway.
“We were concerned, to be honest, that something like this would happen,” Legion President John Cashin said after an anti-vaccine group disrupted an informal and unpublished service Nov. 11 at the Cenotaph in City. Park.
“It’s one of the reasons we didn’t have our regular service in City Park,” Cashin said. “We thought that maybe they would show up and start screaming. Those people are crazy. “
In order for the traditional November 11 service to continue, Legion officials had considered spending about $ 10,000 on perimeter fencing and security around the cenotaph plaza.
“So we could have controlled access and kept those (anti-vax) people out,” Cashin said.
But Legion officials decided, in the end, that the expense was too great and canceled the formal service.
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However, an informal service was held at 11 am on Remembrance Day. but it was interrupted when a woman in a long black coat used a microphone to address the crowd and began denouncing public health orders related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“As many of us realize, we are in the middle of World War III,” the woman said, as shown in images obtained by Global Okanagan.
Boos and boos quickly rained down on the woman and a man with many medals and ribbons on his chest approached her.
“Hey ma’am, take a look at these,” he said, pointing to his honors. “This is not the damn day.”
In the Global video, others in the crowd yell at the woman, “Get her out of there,” as a man tries to take the mic from her and a veteran with a Scottish accent says, “Why don’t you go?”
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“I fight for the freedoms our soldiers died for,” says the woman.
“You are not fighting for anything,” says a woman to the anti-vaccine. You are a disgrace.
Police say they are investigating.
“Kelowna RCMP officers support the right of an individual or group to protest, but when they deliberately choose to disrupt the citizen assembly at a Remembrance Day ceremony, this is a step too far.” – Kelowna RCMP Insp. Adam MacIntosh it said in a statement.
“Kelowna RCMP will thoroughly investigate this event to determine what crime, criminal or otherwise, may have been committed and, if applicable, the filing of charges or fines,” he said.
Police ask everyone with video of the event to send them a copy.
Read more Okanagan news at kelownadailycourier.ca
Reference-vancouversun.com