UPDATED: Anti-vaccine protest at Kelowna school gets heated
An anti-vaccine protest at a Kelowna middle school this afternoon got heated when parents arrived to pick up their kids from class.
Around a dozen protesters showed up at Rutland Middle School this afternoon, Oct. 13, just as students were being let out.
Once parents showed up to pick up kids, the protesters tried to hand out brochures and a newspaper called "Druthers," full of anti-vaccination propaganda.
One parent was heard asking: "Why are you doing it at a school in front of minors?”
In a heated exchange, they shouted expletives at her and accused her of not doing what's best for her child.
The parent said her child has asthma and shot back at them.
“I lost three family members to COVID, I watched them die," she said.
The protesters later tried talking to some of the children, but it didn't appear to go well as one of the protesters was heard calling students "brats." Some of the students tried taking some of the many signs the protesters brought with them.
Some of the students also tried recording the protest with their phones and at one point, one of the protesters took a student's phone and held it for a few minutes before a security guard made her give it back.
There are reports the school doors were locked today ahead of the protest, but no one from the school's administration would comment.
Protesters eventually dispersed when the RCMP showed up after roughly an hour and a half.
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