Anti-maskers banned from B.C. Ferries after causing disturbance

A group of anti-mask protesters has been banned from B.C. Ferries after they caused a disturbance on a sailing from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay on Saturday morning.

The incident happened on the same day as a rally in Vancouver, where protesters demonstrated against masks, quarantine and other health measures meant to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

B.C. Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall said about 12 unmasked protesters boarded the 8:30 a.m. sailing from Departure Bay to Horseshoe Bay and were belligerent to masked passengers.

“We assume they were travelling over to the protest in Vancouver today. They were causing a disturbance and being verbally abusive to other passengers,” she said.

B.C. Ferries has a mandatory mask policy in a bid to stop the spread of COVID-19.

“We don't tolerate this type of behaviour,” said Marshall, adding they called West Vancouver police and they met the ship at Horseshoe Bay when it arrived.

She said they were banned from travel for at least the day, and West Vancouver police are investigating.

Unloading of the vessel was delayed as B.C. Ferries waited for the police to arrive.

Many attendees at the Vancouver rally spread misinformation and touted conspiracy theories, including one of the speakers expected to appear remotely at the event: David Icke, a British conspiracy theorist who became well-known for his theories on lizard people and the Illuminati.

The Canadian Anti-Hate Network calls Icke an “anti-semitic conspiracy superspreader” because he claims that “Rothschild Zionists” control the world, that Jews financially supported Hitler, and that Jews were behind both the 9/11 terror attack and the 2008 recession.