[Action-forum] Police shut down squeegee kids
Jane Scharf
Ottawa-still a police state. Yesterday a group of 8 street involved squeegee
kids with the support of a half a dozen or so activists and labour leaders
attempted to protest the Safe Streets Act at the Elgin Street police
station. Panhandler Proshanto Smith applied for and was issued a permit to
perform a squeegee action on the sidewalks in front of the station and
around the driveway.
The plan was to perform squeegees in the driveway of the police station
which is not a violation of the Safe Streets Act as it is not on a road
way. Protestors planned to form a picket line that would proceed on the side
walk surrounding the driveway area and perform squeegees on cars dropping
off and picking people up at the police station.
Three police officers came out to confront the first protestors as they
arrived and ordered them not to proceed along the sidewalk that surrounded
the driveway. The reason given was that the sidewalk around the police
station driveway is private property and therefore was not covered by the
permit.
Arguments by the protestors that police property is public land and that the
public has a right to protest on public land (with or without a permit) as
long as they are not breaking any laws were ignored by police.
Protestors were told they were barred from the area and if they proceeded
they could be charged with trespassing.
The protestors that were barred then proceeded to conduct a snake march
through the down town streets of Ottawa and preformed squeegees at red
lights and passed out flyers. Several protestors kept an eye out for police
while two protestors performed the squeegees.
The irony in this is that the police stopped the protestors from performing
a legal squeegee action in the driveway at the police station with a city
protest permit thereby forcing the group to perform squeegees on city
streets which is a violation of the Safe Streets Act.
Jane Scharf decided to defy the order barring her from the police property
and proceeded to walk along the sidewalk surrounding the police driveway and
perform the squeegees as planned.
Police did not charge her but they threatened a parking ticket to her first
squeegee customer John Hollingsworth.
Jane Scharf has filed a internal police complaint charging that her
constitution right to freedom of assembly, and expression are violate in the
police action of barring all the protestors from the selected protest sight
and stopping the squeegee activity in the driveway.
Several members of the Witness Group were present to record the interaction
between the protestors and police.
When Jane Scharf went to enter the police station to place the internal
complaint the officers involved would not let her in. She screamed for a
Witness to approach and police immediately let her enter.
There are several more actions to take back the streets being planned by
street involved persons including a mass panhandling action and the
Chiarelli Street Bazzar in front of the mayors office.
Jane Scharf
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