Famous Kurdish Singer Claims OPP Used Excessive Force During Highway Takedown
Posted August 18, 2009 9:01 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
He’s a household name to millions of Kurdish people, and has performed with international stars like Peter Gabriel, Sting, and Paul Simon, but singer/poet and television idol Sivan Perwer received none of the star treatment he’s used to when Ontario Provincial Police officers pulled him and his crew over on Sunday after receiving a gun call from a worried motorist.
Apparently, members of Perwer’s crew were filming him in a black Hummer while driving back from Niagara Falls, when a passing motorists mistook an appropriately named ‘shotgun microphone’, for the real thing. What followed was a tense takedown on Highway 427, most of which was captured on film by a CityNews viewer.
The 53-year-old Perwer is now claiming the OPP were excessive in their treatment of the situation, something Sgt. Dave Woodford vehemently denied.
“When we receive any type of call like that we have to act in the public safety, and the public interest as well, and a high risk takedown was performed at that point. We proceeded as per OPP policy. Until we found out it was safe, we have to act that way,” he maintains.
Perwer now wants a formal apology, and his driver on Sunday thinks its well deserved.
“Can you imagine more than 15 cops, holding us with guns, they put our face on the road with everyone watching us. I thought they are going to kill us,” recalls Riza Bildik.
“Tomorrow I’m going to meet my lawyer, I have to, because they broke our honour, not just me and him, Kurdish people.”
Perwer also wants an apology on behalf of all members of the Kurdish community and has spoken to a lawyer about the incident. He was planning to leave the country on Wednesday, but now says he wants to stay until this is cleared up.
