'Moon the Balloon' protest grows, mayor writes PM
Updated 3 days ago
TYLER KULA
The Observer
More than 200 people say they will participate in a “moon the balloon” demonstration Aug. 15 by dropping their drawers to protest a high-tech surveillance balloon and camera monitoring the international border at Sarnia.
City police said Thursday they plan to turn a blind eye to the cheeky protest in Centennial Park, but Sarnia's mayor has asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper to get involved in what he calls an assault on Canadian privacy.
In a letter to the PM Thursday, Mike Bradley said the camera hovering over Port Huron, Mich. is scanning Sarnia’s waterfront, which includes many homes, private businesses and government offices.
“There was absolutely no consultation with the local community and I am not aware if there has been at the national level about this particular initiative,” he said.
The surveillance balloon based on Port Huron's waterfront is equipped with a $1-million camera and is being tested on the international border.
The 50-foot dirigible, shaped like an airplane wing, is owned by the Sierra Nevada Corporation and operated by True North Logistics of Port Huron.
It has clearance to fly to 1,000 feet and can read the name of a ship from nine miles (14 kilometres) away. Its owners hope to draw interest from U.S. Homeland Security.
The co-ordinated mass mooning is organized by Eli Martin, a former teacher and Sarnia musician. He said he doesn’t know how many people will participate.
“With all the media exposure I figure some people are just going to show up,” he said.
A new Facebook group had more than 70 “confirmed guests” by Thursday evening. Some who can't make the protest have offered to send photocopied “moons” to participate by proxy.
Sarnia police Inspector Van Dam said the department isn’t planning to intervene at the collective pant-dropping.
“I would prefer that that not happen,” he said. “Having said that, I think that is more a political statement than anything to actually do with policing the city.”
There are factors that could make the demonstration indecent exposure, he said.
“It depends on the environment and the people who are involved, whether there are children involved, whether there is flagrant nudity,” he said.
Courts have traditionally been lenient when it comes to such matters, he added.
Mayor Bradley said he isn’t supporting the demonstration but he’s not opposing it either.
“They have the right to free speech. If the police think it’s beyond the code of the community they can make their own judgment ... Whether anything happens or not, they’ve already achieved their goal.”
tkula@theobserver.ca
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