Radical American protesters avoid McLean funeral

The funeral Saturday for the victim of a Greyhound bus slaying started without disruption from a group of U.S. zealots who had pledged to protest the service. 

While there was no sign of the protesters by the time the service for Tim McLean began at 4 p.m., there were about 250 people who didn’t attend the funeral but waited outside Westwood Community Church, 401 Westwood Drive, in case protesters showed up. Many said they didn’t know McLean but they lined the road because they believed the McLean family had the right to grieve in peace and they were prepared to peacefully block any protesters.

About ten police cars also patrolled the site.

The Westboro Baptist Church said it would picket the funeral to inform Canadians that his horrifying death was God’s punishment for the country’s policies that enable homosexuality, abortion, and adultery. The church, not recognized by traditional Baptist conferences and considered a hate group by several organizations, has gained notoriety for picketing the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq.

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On Friday, Westboro members had said they feared for their safety in Winnipeg and were having second thoughts about picketing.

A few church members slipped into Manitoba in the middle of the night Thursday even though politicians had tried to block them at the border, said Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of WBC founder Fred Phelps. She said they sent their picketing signs into Manitoba by Federal Express.

A group of outraged Manitobans, led by James Cotton, had pledged to protect the funeral from the Westboro group.

Phelps-Roper had said the signs smuggled into the country were toned down to avoid arrest for violating Canada’s hate laws. Protestors had vowed to hold signs saying, Canada is Doomed and Prepare to Meet Thy God, rather than their typical anti homosexuality comments.

Still, Phelps-Roper had said with the prime minister, border services, and the RCMP lined up against them, she was concerned the “law will break down” if they protest in Winnipeg.

Seven members of the group were turned away from the Niagra Falls border crossing Thursday afternoon after Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day’s office issued an alert not to allow them into the country.

The church was likely to abandon plans to picket a play denouncing violence against homosexuals in Red Deer, Alta., Friday night after a local RCMP officer told Phelps-Roper that they would be “arrested on site.”