MONTREAL, October 24, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A young man was arrested by Montreal Police October 17 after trying to steal a large banner from the city’s 40 Days for Life, which takes place outside the Morgentaler abortion facility.
A police cruiser drove by as the man tried to take the banner from 40 Days for Life organizer Brian Jenkins. The police handcuffed him and put him in the back of the cruiser. He was released a short while later because Jenkins said he had not decided whether to press charges.
Jenkins said the man walked up to him and said, “I want your banner. I’m leaving, and I’m not leaving without your banner.”
“It was like a little tug of war that happened,” Jenkins explained.
A video of the incident was captured on a cell phone by one of the 40 Days for Life participants. As he tried to take the banner, the man said: “It's not your choice. It's not your f—ing choice….”
“A police cruiser just happened to be driving through and stopped,” Jenkins said, noting that the man became apologetic as soon as he saw the police.
After handcuffing him, the officers viewed the video, and asked Jenkins if he wanted to press charges. He was unsure at the time, so they released the man and he left immediately. Jenkins said the officer told him he had 60 days to press charges, but he told LifeSiteNews.com that he most likely will not do so.
Jenkins mentioned also that the next day, October 18, a woman showed up at the vigil site and defaced a sign depicting an unborn child at five months' gestation. The woman wrote “Mon choix,” which translates to “My choice,” and yelled at the vigil keepers.
Georges Buscemi, president of Campagne Quebec-Vie, said the number of incidents at pro-life vigils lately raises concerns for him about freedom of speech. “These types of altercations seem to be almost routine now,” he said. “They’re not provocateurs or anarchists. They’re everyday people who seem to consider the message and people second-class citizens.”
The thinking behind it, he suggested, is that “those guys, their statements, are out of bounds so we’re allowed to push them around.”
“Christians are turning into scapegoats, punching bags,” he said.
On October 6, a pro-life woman in Toronto was attacked by a man with a knife while participating in the annual Life Chain.
The man, named Michael Panagapko, 45, doused her with water from a bottle, then hurled the empty bottle at her face, grabbed her by the hair, slammed her to the ground, and began punching and kicking her repeatedly before drawing his knife. According to eyewitness accounts, the woman, Faye Arellano, was spared from the knife when Josue Gauran, 60, stepped in the attacker’s way.
Panagapko was arrested and charged with three counts of assault, one count of assault with a weapon, and one count of wielding a dangerous weapon.
The Montreal 40 Days for Life has itself been targeted numerous times in recent years.
In 2012, a crowd of 60 to 70 university students descended on the vigil and destroyed their signs while 10 police cruisers looked on. “Wherever we turned there they were – in front, behind, to our right, to our left,” Jenkins said at the time. “The crowd was raucous. Led with blowhorn, chants were sung. Many motorists encouraged them on and the mob reacted jubilantly whenever a car horn was blown.”
In 2011, a young woman dismantled their display after they refused to do it themselves. When Jenkins attempted to stop her from walking away with the banner, she punched him, knocking him to the ground. He grabbed an end of the banner and she tried to wrestle it from him but then left.
LifeSiteNews contacted the Montreal Police Department but did not hear back by press time.