Atrocious behaviour

Student protesters in Quebec have apologized for goosestepping about in imitation of Nazi soldiers, arms extended in the infamous “Heil Hitler” salute. The students said they were mocking Montreal police, referring to local officers as the SS and calling them fascists. An apology is a step in the right direction, but none of this should have happened in the first place.

Such behaviour is utterly juvenile, shows a complete lack of knowledge and understanding of history, and demonstrates an appalling insensitivity to Jewish people, in particular, Holocaust survivors.

Race car driver Jacques Villeneuve summed up the situation perfectly when he earlier said of the protest: “It’s becoming a little bit ridiculous.”

Villeneuve is right when he says that the student protesters in Quebec should give it up and go back to school. After four months of disruption, including during last weekend’s international Grand Prix race in Montreal, the movement has disintegrated into the absurd.

The protesters have also marched in the nude to “catch the government’s attention,” and threatened violence against Premier Jean Charest.

Back to the classroom it should be. While they are there, maybe the students could brush up on their knowledge about Nazi Germany, where real atrocities were committed by Hitler. No cause is helped by likening it to the most extreme event in recent history.