[ad_1]
OTTAWA — Ottawa police say they have contacted leaders of the city’s Sikh community and will meet with them later this week to get feedback on the police response to the bogus bomb threat that led to the arrest of two organizers of a Sikh rally near Parliament Hill last Saturday.
But the two men who were arrested live in the Montreal area and say they have heard nothing from Ottawa police since their release on Saturday. They also maintain that they were not informed that the police were meeting with the Sikh community in Ottawa.
Manveer Singh and Parminder Singh have decided to come out into the public square to defend their reputations and try to find out more about who gave the false information to the police — and why they did it.
Parminder Singh said he was appealing to the Ottawa police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to explain what happened. “I really need to know who’s behind this,” said Parminder Singh, who lives in Pierrefonds, on the west island of Montreal.
Harpreet Hansra, another organizer of Saturday’s rally, called on Ottawa police to issue a public apology to the two men. He also supports the request of the World Organization of the Sikhs of Canada for the holding of an investigation into the false “tip” transmitted to the police.
The Ottawa Police Service said RCMP are investigating the fake bomb threat that led to the arrests of the two men. Ottawa Police Acting Chief Steve Bell shared the information in a letter Tuesday evening to the Ottawa Police Services Board.
Chief Bell says that during this RCMP investigation, Ottawa police are limited in what they can reveal about the circumstances surrounding Saturday’s incident. But he adds that the police force will endeavor to provide as much information as possible to “ensure transparency”.
According to Mr. Bell, the Ottawa police are aware of the impact that the police intervention may have had on those arrested. “We have reached out to Ottawa Sikh community leaders and will be meeting with them later this week to gather their feedback and discuss Ottawa Police’s response and operational processes in these circumstances,” he wrote. Our relationship with the Sikh community is important to us.”
The RCMP did not confirm on Wednesday that such an investigation was underway. A spokesperson for the RCMP recalled that for confidentiality issues and operational reasons, the federal police never confirm details related to criminal investigations until charges have been laid.
A gathering permit
In the letter to the Police Services Board, Chief Bell indicates that once the RCMP investigation is complete, Ottawa Police will review the case and community feedback to see how they can improve their response to similar incidents.
He explains that the “detailed and specific threat” regarding the potential use of explosives in the Parliament Hill area “was complicated by temporal factors related to a planned event”. He maintains that the police acted on the basis of information received in order to ensure public safety. He assures that she acted “in good faith”, and “as quickly and efficiently as possible”, to investigate the threat.
The organizers of the rally, held in remembrance of the victims of the 1984 massacre of Sikhs in India, had obtained proper permits to hold the event on Parliament Hill. When they arrived, they were told the area was cordoned off due to an ongoing threat, so they proceeded to the Supreme Court lawn nearby.
But a little later, Manveer Singh and Parminder Singh claim that the police stopped them and told them their names were linked to a serious bomb threat on Parliament Hill.
According to Manveer Singh, who lives in Vaudreuil-Dorion, west of the island of Montreal, the police told him that they had “credible information” linking him to the threat. “What was this credible information that led the police to arrest me?” he asks today.
Police searched the two men’s vehicles for explosives, before handcuffing them and taking them to the station, where they were made to remove their turbans and questioned by investigators, they said . Manveer Singh also had to remove other religious symbols, including a steel bracelet (“kara”) and the kirpan.
The two men said that in releasing them, the police apologized saying they had been the victims of a “terrorist hoax”.
Parliament was also evacuated as police investigated on Saturday based on their ‘tip’. After several hours, police said no threat to public safety had been found and the area was reopened.
—
This dispatch was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta Exchanges and The Canadian Press for the news.
[ad_2]
Source link
