Dear Editor:
Two television images have haunted me over the past week. The first from Belarus showed a young woman protesting against the government who stumbled, fell and then was swarmed and beaten by fully armed riot police.
The second from Ancaster, Ontario showed a solitary police officer trapped in his cruiser, unable to impact the massive illegal gathering, and being mocked and jeered by passersby.
The case in point is how we deal with large crowds gathering, despite restrictions brought on by COVID-19 and the potentially deadly consequences of inaction. Police certainly are not able to match man for man these large gatherings such as car rallies, house parties and beach gatherings, etc. Nor can police over react Belarus style.
Is there no way of convincing these people who trust safety in numbers, that COVID-19 is a real threat? The Ancaster rally was no accident. It was planned in time and in scope to defy the government’s latest attempt to control COVID-19.
People participating in these events are well past any sort of logic, reasoning, respecting others or pleading for co-operation. There must be an answer other than asking an undermanned police unit to enforce this provincial law.
How about trying this? Place a robotic drone with a high-powered camera well above the entry points to any of these events and photograph licence plates as cars enter and leave. The $750 fine is applied to all participants and added to their plate renewal before they can re-licence the vehicle. Mail the ticket, copy of the photo, and the amount of the fine ASAP! If initiators of the event can be identified, then they too will receive the additional fines already on the books.
COVID-19 is deadly serious, and it is being given renewed life by actions such as these gatherings. It’s time for the provincial government to stop threatening to take action, but follow up on their rhetoric. If logic and pleas fall on deaf ears, hit these violators at the very least in their proverbial pocketbooks.
I am personally looking forward to the upcoming Christmas season, and in no way wish to be in quarantine or restricted in much smaller and more intimate family get-togethers.
Enough is enough. These people know full well what they are doing, and frankly they don’t care. I for one can imagine how helpless that Ancaster police officer must have felt. Good on him for not doing anything he’d regret.
At the same time, hit these perpetrators head on with technology that already exists!
Ron Johnson,
Mount Forest