This letter originally ran on BarrieToday. NewmarketToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected].
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Protesters recently adorned the lawns of Queen's Park, showing their disdain for Premier Ford's government and policies.
As a supporter of democratic rights, I would normally commend the protestors, as they were using their democratic rights to freedom of expression and peaceful protest.
Normally, I would say that protestors are the pillar of democracy, even if I disagree with their opinions.
However, I am displeased to announce that, with the recent protests at Ontario's legislature, I am disgusted with the participants' antics.
The protests were not peaceful and were not constitutionally enshrined expressions of democratic rights; the protestors used threats of violence against our province's top politician.
The pinnacle of this was a homemade guillotine that was present, adorned with the words "let history repeat itself. Chop chop!"
This was a reference to the French Revolution, in which the Sans-cullotes, the middle- and lower-class citizens, used violence (symbolized by the guillotine) to overthrow their undemocratic, despotic rulers.
In the case of the protests, participants said that they wanted to repeat that fate, and sentence Premier Ford to a beheading.
As I read this news in the paper, I couldn't help but feel disgusted and ashamed that some members of our society would sink to such lows.
There is no place for violence, or threats thereof, in our protests. Violence of this sort is a violation of the very fundamental principles of our society.
I can only hope that these protests be condemned, by members of all parties, without partisanship.
These protests weren't just an attack on Doug Ford. They were an attack on the values of a free, democratic, and reasonable nation.
Hale Mahon
Midhurst
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