People will be free to protest the 2010 Games and will not be arrested for having anti-Olympic signs posted in their windows, the Vancouver’s police chief said yesterday.

In a statement Thursday morning to “clear the air,” Chief Const. Jim Chu said critics and media had painted a “dire picture” of supposed police actions during the Games.

“The scenarios that are described, sometimes simply in an effort to generate fear and conflict, are becoming ridiculous,” Chu said.

Protesters will not be penned or corralled into protest zones and people will not be jailed for anti-Olympic signs in their windows, he said.

Earlier this month, a pair of anti-Olympic activists launched a lawsuit against Vancouver for bylaws aimed at combating guerilla marketing, but which the activists say infringes on charter freedoms.

“The VPD has no intention of entering any Vancouver residence of a sign issue during the Games,” Chu said. “We are not the sign police.”

The City of Vancouver is responsible for enforcing signage bylaws, and Chu said he has been assured that the city will not focus on any signs that are personal or political in nature.

To have a sign removed, the city would have to obtain a warrant through the courts. Even then, he said, police would only stand by to ensure that peace is maintained.

Don't be greedy, share this article:

	User Comments & Ratings	Comment as guest

            
            


            
                
                    Title:
                
                
                    
                        
                    
                
                
                    Comment:
                
                
                    
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        Publish to Facebook

Man appears in court on two Ontario killings

BELLEVILLE, Ont. - An 18-year-old suspect is due to appear in an eastern Ontario court today in connection with the slayings of a mother and her daughter.

Police confirm two dead, one injured in Edmonton car dealership shooting

EDMONTON - Employees and customers of an Edmonton car dealership were struggling to deal with a Friday morning shooting in which two men were killed and a third man was sent to hospital.

Massive display of support at OPP funeral contrasted with officer's quiet life

WINGHAM, Ont. - Thousands of police officers filled a hockey arena and marched in unison down this small community's main street Friday in a massive tribute to a slain officer, remembered as a dedicated father and a "modern-day hero."

N.L. premier calls offshore chopper crash sad day in province's history

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Premier Danny Williams said Friday was a sad day in the history of Newfoundland and Labrador as people mark the first anniversary of a fatal helicopter crash.

No sympathy for Guergis 'hissy fits': Tory matriarch Deborah Grey

OTTAWA - If beleaguered Conservative minister Helena Guergis was hoping for sympathy from her political sisters, former party matriarch Deborah Grey was fresh out.

Mississippi school sued after it calls off senior prom rather than let lesbian couple attend

JACKSON, Miss. - An 18-year-old lesbian student who wanted to take her girlfriend to her senior prom is asking a federal judge to force her Mississippi school district reinstate the dance it cancelled rather than let the couple attend.

11 rare Siberian tigers die at cash-strapped Chinese zoo, raising questions of overbreeding

BEIJING - Eleven rare Siberian tigers have died at a wildlife park in a startling case that activists say hints at unsavoury practices among some zoos and animal farms in China: They are overbreeding endangered animals in the hopes of making illicit profit on their carcasses.