EDITORIAL – Best response to protesters: let them yell in a vacuum

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

EVERYBODY’S TIPTOEING around this week’s anti-pipeline protest at Thompson Rivers University.

The police, the university, federal bureaucrats and the media are all being very careful not to inflame the situation, to be sure everybody is being treated with “respect.”

There was nothing respectful about the protest, credit for which is being claimed by the indigenous activist group that calls itself the Tiny House Warriors.

There was much yelling and swearing. Red paint was splattered outside at the Campus Activity Centre. The CAC had to be closed; three people were arrested and released.

The incident had similar earmarks to another Tiny House Warriors protest at a provincial park in the North Thompson last summer.

Everybody believes in the right to peaceful protest. It’s part of democracy.

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Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.