Surrey RCMP officer seen hugging convoy protester in video

Days after video showed Mounties in Alberta hugging anti-mandate protestors, video has emerged showing an RCMP officer doing the same in Surrey.

This happened Monday evening, when officers moved in on the blockade at the Pacific Highway border crossing.

We know 12 arrests were made that night and access to the border crossing was reopened, allowing people to drive through. However, a TikTok video from Monday shows the embrace between the Mountie and demonstrator, as officers were telling protesters to get off the road.

The video also shows other officers be friendly with the man, shaking hands with him.

Social media posts identify the man getting that hug as one of the organizers of the protest at 176th Street.

@informallyhip #freedomconvoy2022 #pacificborder #pacificbordercrossing #BC #surrey #canada #vancouver #peacefulassembly ♬ original sound – Informally Hip

“It’s not uncommon in modern policing strategy to try and deescalate and to try and show some recognition of sympathy with protesters. The lines of people wearing riot gear is something that we would have seen probably 20 years ago but in more recent years is less common,” explained Howard Ramos, professor of sociology at Western University.

But he says this incident, coupled with other things police have or have no done during the protests across Canada in recent weeks, shows something is different in the way these demonstrators are being treated.

“I would contend that it’s also linked to how the protesters themselves are very aware and very organized of how policing works,” Ramos told CityNews. “They (the protesters) also are trying to de-escalate. They’re going out of their way to try and shake hands. The presence of children, which really does kind of blur some of those lines and creates those situations, which we don’t see in other protests, that same level of sympathy shown.”

The actions of some police officers throughout the weeks-long protests across Canada have come under fire from many people. In many cases, officers have been placed on leave as their detachments look into their behaviour.

Ramos says officers have used less aggressive actions as de-escalation tactics in the past.

He points to the Black Lives Matter protests, saying it was not uncommon to see some images of officers taking selfies with protesters or shaking their hands.

However, what we’ve been seeing between some police and protesters during the so-called freedom convoys is out of the norm for him.

“Getting to hugging or having people, again inside their police cruisers, that’s not something we would have seen. And the level of discretion that officers are showing in terms of de-escalation in my mind is unprecedented. I can’t recall seeing another protest movement where this level of friendliness was seen,” Ramos said.

Rob Gordon, professor of criminology at Simon Fraser University, says acts such as hugging demonstrations can be misread.

“The danger here is that they compromise their impartiality, compromise their neutrality — especially if they’re in uniform, and/or, on duty. Those sorts of issues are very important in not only the optics but also the very nature of law enforcement,” he told CityNews.

“Going around, and embracing demonstrators and these sorts of things is highly problematic.”

Many people angered by how police have been treating these anti-COVID-mandate protesters versus other demonstrators in the past have argued that race has played a role.

However, Ramos says it’s more complex than just boiling it down to race or racism.

“It’s hard to deny that Canada has issues of systemic racism and within the police and military, there’s been clear evidence of officers who have links to alt-right groups or white supremacist groups, unfortunately. That might be necessary but not sufficient, as people may say, as an explanation. I think that part of the other elements that we need to take into account are, again, the stance that protesters are taking, the discipline that they’ve shown — they haven’t, for the most part, yelled, they haven’t resisted, for the most part, other than not moving, they’ve tended to try and exert a friendly nature, and it’s uncommon and almost unprecedented to have children there, and I think that changes the tone of the protests,” he explained.

“There are some racial elements but that’s not the only thing that’s going on. There’s a series of compounding and intersecting factors that are leading to this type of policing.”

He notes the strategy is also changing, something people may not see. Using the clearing of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont. as an example, Ramos says police officers weren’t wearing body armour on the first or second lines. That changed over time, though, with more armour visible and other steps taken, he says.

Related articles: 

• ‘Freedom convoy’ organizers Barber, Lich arrested by Ottawa police

• Police response to ongoing Canadian convoy protests questioned, criticized

• Emergencies Act prohibits bringing children, food or fuel to ‘illegal’ anti-mandate blockades

Regardless, Ramos believes we will see “the heavy hand of enforcement” eventually.

In a statement to CityNews, the Surrey RCMP says it’s aware of the video circulating on social media of the hug between one of its officers and a protester.

“While we are not able to comment on the exact context of the video. (sic) What we can say is that sometimes police use tactics to deescalate a situation, and that can include rapport building in an attempt to diffuse a dynamic and tense situation,” an emailed statement reads.

More protests planned

While access to the Pacific Highway border crossing has been restored, more protests are being planned in Surrey this coming weekend.

There are at least another two protest convoys set to take place in Metro Vancouver. One is set to leave Chilliwack and head for the Pac Highway crossing, much like last weekend, while another is set to bring a group a people from the corner of East Hastings and Renfrew in Vancouver to the same border crossing.

It’s unclear if the demonstrators plan to block the port of entry as they did a week ago. This latest action will come after the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act, which was brought in to deal with border blockages and other instances.

Bringing children to convoy protest blockades is among the activities that could net protesters a $5,000 fine or five years in prison while Canada is under the Emergencies Act.