Police, Kitchener bylaw aiming to prevent another Victoria Day firework incident

Waterloo Regional Police Services (WRPS) are teaming up with Kitchener bylaw to avoid another closure from happening in Victoria Park this weekend.

It was a chaotic scene in the park last month on Victoria Day, with some attendees shooting off fireworks into crowds, out of moving vehicles, at buildings and at police or bylaw officers.

That scene started in Victoria Park and spread into nearby city streets. One 14-year-old was arrested and charged, while 19 WRPS officers worked with bylaw over four hours to clear the park.

The City of Kitchener has since increased signage in the park ahead of the Canada Day weekend.

The signs clearly read in bold letters, “No fireworks allowed!”

Director of Bylaw Enforcement for the City of Kitchener, Gloria MacNeil, told CityNews 570 that staff are being proactive this weekend.

“We’ll be adding additional officers on for the entire weekend, similar to what we did for May 2-4, just to have a bigger proactive presence in the city,” said MacNeil

“The situation was unsafe and there was what we could describe as violent behavior, including inappropriate use of fireworks: so as a result of that we have increased our staffing compliment and have been working with police in order to hopefully deter that activity from happening again.”

Fireworks in Kitchener are only permitted to be set off on July first until 11 p.m. on privately owned property.

MacNeil mentioned that any fireworks displays must be set off at least 25 feet away from any building or structure.

The city has a big Canada Day event planned on Monday that includes concerts and a fireworks celebration. MacNeil hopes people will attend that show instead of choosing to set them off on their own.

WRPS is reminding the community that fireworks are not permitted to be set off in any public areas.