Toronto police are under attack from many quarters just n w. Since an officer recently shot and killed a black youth who had been attempting to hit them with a stolen car, the police have been painted as intrinsically “racist.” Just days before the rescue, police spokesmen called for support from the public to help restore the force’s battered morale.
Obviously, standing for hours outside an abortuary on a bitterly cold January day is not a police officer’s favorite duty, but that should not excuse the way in which some officers manhandled some of the rescuers.
Ironically, even the pro-abortionists felt that some policemen went too far. Two comments overheard were, “You don’t have to kill them, you know,” and (to rescuers) “why do you guys take such pains?”
Another illuminating comment was hurled at the police from pro-abortionists: “How come you guys aren’t wearing plastic gloves? Do you wear those only when arresting us?” (This refers to the police practice of wearing gloves in situations where there would be exposure to AIDS).
Police Superintendent John Getty, at least, saw the rescuers in a positive light, “they’re a non-violent group,” he told the Toronto Star. If the reporter then asked why such non-violent people were being arrested, Getty’s response was not printed.
Staff Superintendent Don Banks was less kind. He complained that the rescuers were tying up too many police officers and stopping them from investigating the several break-ins in the area.
On young man, joining pro-life activism for the first time asked a police officer in a puzzled way why police were arresting the rescuers and not the pro-abortionists. He was told that the police were there to keep open access to the building. Once that had been done, the only interest the police had in the situation was “to serve and protect.”
