Officer Bubbles takes Toronto

Officer Bubbles takes Toronto

This G20 thing just isn’t going away. A video by Real News that went viral on YouTube last week shows a young woman blowing bubbles being threatened with arrest for assault. “If the bubble touches me, you’re going to be arrested for assault,” Constable Adam Josephs tells Courtney Winkels, who was, in all fairness, blowing multiple bubbles. In further justifying his reaction, Josephs explains that there’s detergent in the bubbles that could get into a policeman’s eyes. Another cop in the video seems both perplexed and amused by the whole exchange.

Later in the video, Winkels is shown being put under arrest, though it’s unclear why. She told the Sun that she was arrested for having a backpack and a lawyer’s number written on her arm. The incident has turned bubbles into a new symbol of peaceful protest. On Saturday, at a Canadians Advocating Political Participation rally at Queen’s Park, many of the 300 participants blew soapy orbs into the air. In analyzing Winkels’ arrest, others have focused on the seemingly erratic behaviour of Officer Bubbles, as he’s been dubbed. A new animated series shows him falling in love, then arresting his lover, and locking up Barack Obama for obstructing justice.

Tiny bubbles cause international stir [Toronto Sun]