Dan Oke #quack #wingnut vice.com
It was January 13 and a crowd of about three dozen people, young and old, some in cashmere scarves and others in camo jackets, formed a half-circle around the leaders of Stand4Thee, a Canadian anti-lockdown group, and began reading from a script. “We are arresting Walter Sendzik, the man acting as the mayor of... St. Catharines,” the mass of voices said. For over four-and-a-half minutes, the group, led by Stand4Thee co-founder and karate sensei Dan Oke, read out a litany of made-up charges against Sendzik (who wasn’t present), including torture against children, intimidation, and committing bodily harm (by forcing people to wear masks.) They even provided him with a 1-800 number for legal aid. The arrest attempt appeared largely symbolic, a classic protest tactic, but when reached by phone, Oke told VICE World News the attempted citizen’s arrests are serious. Furthermore, his group wants to see a series of public trials for politicians whose lockdowns have caused, what they believe to be, untold damage to the Canadian population, particularly children. “What we're looking for with the ‘Nuremberg Two’ would just be justice,” Oke said, referencing the mass trials of Nazi war criminals after World War II. He admitted it’s unlikely “we would get an officer to show up and, you know, handcuff a mayor,” but still thinks a trial is a possibility—if the group gains enough followers to march on a courthouse and force one. “If 8,000, 10,000, or even 1,000 people showed up in front of a courthouse, or just made a declaration that we are holding a publicly televised or streamed common law trial right now... Under 'common law, we have the right and the authority to do that,” said Oke. “So can we do it? Yes. Yes, we can.”