Ottawa police are being criticized for their response to a student protest outside a Catholic high school over a dress code “blitz,” particularly in contrast to how they responded to the “Freedom Convoy” blockade earlier this year.
Students held a large protest outside Béatrice-Desloges Catholic High School in Orléans during lunch break Friday, a day after students say teachers called several female students out of class for alleged violations of the school dress code.
Protesters said Thursday’s “blitz” explicitly targeted females, who were taken to the principal’s office to have their shorts and skirts measured by — and in front of — male and female staff members. “They were getting us to bend over and touch our toes to prove our underwear wasn’t showing, and were touching the inside of our thighs to measure us — which is sexual assault, because we did not consent,” said Cloé Dumoulin, a student at the school.
Dumoulin and another student, Cheyenne Lehouillier, said up to 60 students were told to change clothes or to go home and come back with a different outfit.