Press Release: NRP Officers Fine Anti-War Demonstrator For Sidewalk Chalk

September 19, 2012

At the end of the Stop the Deportation of Kimberly Rivera demonstration today in St. Catharines on duty NRP officers swooped in in an unmarked car blocking the exit of demonstrator, Dylan Powell, and fining him as a public nuisance for sidewalk chalk that had been left in and around the office of Rick Dykstra. These officers sat and watched the entire demonstration in their unmarked vehicle across the street - even though they both established that no complaints had been made and that there was no trespass ask made by the buildings occupants. This is not policing. This is private security and it comes at the expense of taxpayers. Dylan Powell had this to say about the fine, “The criminalization of sidewalk chalk is the absurd length to which the local authorities will go to protect the status quo and stifle dissent. Right before the demonstration we got word that Kim Rivera’s final stay was denied. Rick Dykstra - Secretary to Jason Kenney promotes himself as a “family man” yet he has played a central role in destroying the family of Kim Rivera and so many others through the retrograde immigration policies of the Federal Conservative Party. This ‘graffiti’ is a small - washable - stand against those policies. STOP THE DEPORTATIONS NOW!”