Shena Meadowcroft and the Vancouver Police
I don’t often notice a name from Gabriola in the news, but look — The Times Colonist writes about Shena Meadowcroft’s experience with the Vancouver Police.
The last thing Vancouver police Const. Rob Merriott was expecting from a protester after a confrontation at the Olympics opening ceremony was a letter thanking him and his colleagues for representing
everything that is goodabout Canada.
I have never been surrounded by so many gentle men in my life, this officer included,Shena Meadowcroft wrote to the Vancouver Police Department.
Your men were continuously insulted and spat upon, screamed at. At no time did I see any of them respond with anything but civility and politeness.
[The article quoted above is no longer available on the newspaper's website.]
How lovely to hear about polite, gentle cops… and a Gabriolan who praises the good.
Update: Here’s Shena’s blog post about the protest: Take back our City – Take back our Streets.
Filed in Gabriola people 3 Comments so far
3 Responses to “Shena Meadowcroft and the Vancouver Police”
Jeffrey on 23 Feb 2010 at 1:22 pm #
Wonderful story, thanks for posting it. It’s so sad that a lot of protesters don’t understand the power of a peaceful, respectful and articulate protest.
Shena Meadowcroft on 24 Feb 2010 at 12:10 am #
Thank you for posting this! I didn’t realize that it had been featured in the Times Columnist. I gave permission to the police to use the letter and I have been interviewed so far by the Province, Nanaimo Daily News and A Channel. The full story of what happened is in Letters to the Editor this issue of The Gabriola Sounder. It was an incredible experience and I cannot speak highly enough of the police. It’s great that the story of what happened that evening is coming out and separating legitimate protesters and those cowards who hid behind masks and whose only purpose was to cause total chaos and violence.
deb on 05 Mar 2010 at 11:29 am #
Hi
I too enjoyed reading your article about how well behaved the police and most of the protesters were. The police have been commended in almost all media sources, and I really was proud of where we live and how we have so much freedom.
If they had come on too hard, it would have made Canada look bad, and it would have discouraged peaceful protests in the future.
The fact that they defended the people who wanted to voice an opinion is just grand!