SURREY, BC: Surrey Mounties are being accused of racism for the way they behaved at an Indo-Canadian wedding reception.
They were called to the Bridgeview community hall when neighbors complained of noise.
There was no noise problem but police say there was more liquor in the hall than allowed under the licensee.
According to guests, police stayed at the reception for about three hours and hassled guests, especially young people.
Guest Gerald Mansell, 25, says police ‘would never have behaved that way at a ‘white couple’s wedding.
“I think it was something racial, he says. I don’t know why they were there, There ‘were no fights or nothing.”
Harjit Thandi, 15, friend of the groom’s ‘brother, says an officer put him in a squad ‘car and asked him whether he’d been drinking and whether he belonged to a gang.
“Every kid who walked out, he looked at him like he was drunk,” the John Oliver students says.
Two other officers stood behind the bar {inside the hall for more than an hour, he says, but no one asked them to leave because “everybody was uptight”.
Aman Sihota, 16, brother of the groom, says police broke into cars to remove alcohol.
“They had no right to do that. Itwasn’tt00 pleasurable, having the police there. Who ‘wants the police there?”
Insp. Ric Hall of Surrey RCMP says police seized liquor from the hall but would ‘not say whether booze was seized from locked cars.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 12, 1991
