(CARLI BERRY / iNFOnews.ca)
July 15, 2021 - 12:26 PM
The RCMP is investigating if an incident involving racist comments made towards a security guard at a Kelowna vaccination clinic are considered a hate crime.
Kelowna RCMP responded to a complaint of protestors outside a COVID-19 vaccine clinic on Springfield Road in Kelowna, July 13.
READ MORE: Kelowna security guard who dealt with racist tirade ‘will be recognized’
“The original complaint was that protestors were impeding access to the clinic,” says Cpl. Jocelyn Noseworthy of the Kelowna RCMP, in a press release issued by the RCMP.
“Officers attended spoke with staff, and dealt with the protestors. No arrests were made at that time.”
Since then, iNFOnews published a video of a protestor yelling what appear to be racially motivated comments and accusations at a security guard who asked him to leave the property.
The accused in the video has been identified by police, and the Kelowna RCMP is in the process of conducting a full investigation into this matter, according to the RCMP.
“We are now investigating this incident through the lens of the willful promotion of hatred under Section 319 of the Criminal Code,” says Noseworthy. “Racism has no place in our community, and I want to reassure the public that this matter is being given the full attention of our General Investigative Support Team in consultation with the Provincial Hate Crimes Unit.”
Anyone who witnessed this confrontation and has not spoken to police is asked to contact the Kelowna RCMP at 250-762-3300.
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