‘We can’t entice the police:’ protesters clean up graffiti at city hall war memorial

As the “Justice for George” protest continued Thursday in Saskatoon, many focused on keeping the rally peaceful.

With police ushering the large march through the streets, there was a moment where a bit of graffiti on the war memorial at city hall caused concern for some protesters.

That included Jordan Pelletier-Montgrand, who carried a Black Lives Matter sign and boasted Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women paint on her face during the rally.

She saw something early on during the rally that bothered her.

“A few people have decided to come in with thick, black permanent markers and write on two sides of the war memorial. One person wrote ‘George Floyd’ with a heart, one person wrote ‘Black Lives Matter,’” she explained.

For those of you wondering, the war memorial outside of city hall was written on, with thick black marker.

Jordan and Sarah are currently cleaning the graffiti.

They say there’s no reason for it, and understand the gravity of the message. #yxe pic.twitter.com/v9efYdrtsq

— brady lang (@BradyLangSK) June 5, 2020

She said she saw organizer Braydon Page see what had happened, and talked to the people who had written the words.

“(He said), ‘I appreciate the sentiment but, we can’t entice the police to come after us like the states.'”

As the protesters marched through the streets, the graffiti stayed on the war memorial. When protesters made it back to city hall square, something powerful happened between Pelletier-Montgrand and a fellow protester.

“While we were chanting, and kneeling, I saw Sarah over here grab a bucket and some baking powder. And she started scrubbing,” Pelletier-Montgrand said.

“She said ‘this is vandalism, government property.'”

The war memorial at Saskatoon city hall was vandalized before the “Justice for George” rally began on June 4, 2020. (Brady Lang/650 CKOM)

After that, Pelletier-Montgrand joined her in cleaning the memorial. By the time night fell in Saskatoon Thursday, the war memorial had been scrubbed clean.

Pelletier-Montgrand explained how important that moment was, and how peaceful Thursday’s protest turned out.

“We’re not going to riot. We’re going to walk the streets a few times, we’re going to hold up our signs,” she said. “The injustice speaks for itself.”

Pelletier-Montgrand said she was the first protester who made it to city hall Thursday, arriving around 4 p.m.

She said there were some who yelled at her and tried to entice her during that time. But, that didn’t bother her.

“I am so glad that we live in Canada, and we have the right to peaceful protest. I’m so glad that we exercised that right today,” she said.

Pelletier-Montgrand said she was hoping to get back out and protest this movement again soon in Saskatoon.

Saskatoon police estimate about 4,000 people took part in the march.