'It doesn't feel good': Teen tells story of friend's dress code protest arrest

A teenthreatened with arrest atlast week'sprotest against a dress code blitz at an Ottawa high schoolsays police could have handled the situation better.

"I feel like they could have easily handled it a lot better by calmly walking up to us and calmly just informing us that if we don't leave, these are the consequences," said 18-year-old Owen Harrington, sitting in a park down the street fromcole secondaire catholique Batrice-Desloges.

Ottawa'sFrench Catholic school board apologized to studentsafter hundredsprotested what they called demeaning enforcement of a dress code.

The board saida preliminaryinvestigation found some students, mostly girls, were called into the hallways and asked to bend their leg backwards at the knee to determine if their shorts complied with the dress code.

Several students told CBC they sawstaff asking other students to bend over in order to measure the length of their shorts and dresses. The board said it hasn't found evidence of this.

Harrington,who doesn't attend the Orlanshigh school,said he went to the demonstrationwith his mother's blessing, wanting to support friends and other students by wearing short shorts.

Told he was trying to start riot

Harrington and his friends initially joined other demonstratorson school grounds. But after officers threatened toarrest him for trespassing, Harrington saidhe crossed the street to be wherehe thought he'd be fine to continue protesting.

That's when police approached him again.

"[The officer] walked up to me and he's like, 'I'm going toput you under arrest for trying to start a riot.'" he said.

"I tried to ask him, like, 'How am I trying to start a riot? Like I'm just peacefully standing here yelling like everyone else.'"

He said police put hands on him, but another officer intervened and pulled the officers aside, trying to de-escalate the situation.

Around the same time, an officer moved in on his friend.

Video of the confrontation shows one of Harrington's friends shoved against a police cruiser. He was taken awayandlater released without charges or tickets.

After that, Harrington re-entered school property to get his car and keys, was threatened with arrest again, but left without further incident.

WATCH | Video of Friday's protest:

Students protest after dress code enforcement blitz at Ottawa Catholic high school

2 years ago

Duration 2:32

Students at cole secondaire catholique Batrice-Desloges say some girls were asked to bend over to confirm that their clothing met the dress code during an enforcement blitz on Thursday. A school board representative said nothing indicates that students were asked to bend over in front of staff.

In a previous interview, Ottawa's interim police chief Steve Bell said actions taken by police were meant to maintain public safety, particularly around the road.

"What you did see is when we intervened, there were certain people not associated with the school that were attempting to agitate the crowds," he told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning.

"We were concerned about their safety and entering the roadway, as well as encouraging other people to enter the roadway."

When asked about whether Harrington's friend was really on the street with online video showing him standing on the sidewalk before police grab him Bell said the video doesn't show the whole picture.

Police had already intervened several times and the young men weren't following those directions, he said.

But Harrington disagrees with that assessment.

Feels focus should be on dress code blitz

"I would just say that I was being supportive and trying to get our voices heard," he said. "And just hyping the crowd up, but like, I wasn't agitating them."

Hesaidother protesters didenterthe road, seeing Harrington had been told to leave the premises and wanting to join him.Even before police arrived,teachers were having difficulties keeping all the students off the road due to the size of the crowd, he added.

While he wants his story told, the young man wants the focus to remain on how the school acted and the effect of the dress code blitz on female students.

He said the police presence largely set the tone of Friday's protest and his friends felt immediately targeted by police. He feels like more female officers and a softer approach could have led to a better outcome.

Even days later, Harringtonsaid watching his friend be put in the back of a police cruiser for protesting on the sidewalk was frightening.

"It doesn't feel good. I don't know. It's really hard to explain."