Kevin Vickers, Canada's Ambassador to Ireland, tackled an Irish protester Thursday who tried to disrupt a ceremony honoring British soldiers who were killed in 1916.
Vickers is probably best known as the former Canadian House of Commons sergeant-at-arms who shot Ottawa gunman Zehaf-Bibeau after he stormed Parliament Hill in 2014,
according to the CBC News. He was named Canada's ambassador to Ireland in January 2015,
noted CTV News.
On Thursday, Vickers was invited to a ceremony at the Grangegorman Military Cemetery, which was also being attended by foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan, the British ambassador Dominick Chilcott, and members of the Irish and British armed forces,
wrote RTE News.
During the ceremony, a protester, who claimed to be with the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association, stood up and shouted that the event was an "insult," reported RTE. He also shouted about "The Craigavon Two," who are serving life sentences in Northern Ireland for the murder of a constable.
Vickers stopped the protester, later identified as Brian Murphy, grabbing him and then leading him away from the ceremony, whereupon he was then arrested by authorities.
"We were all kind of surprised, to put it mildly, that a dignitary kind of beat the Irish police in wrestling this guy to the ground," Colin Keegan, a photographer covering the event, told CBC Radio's "Shift," noted the CBC News. "I have to hand it to him. It was impressive … he was in action within a split second of it happening."
The Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association wrote on is Facebook page, though, that the Irish government should demand an apology from the Canadian government for Vickers actions.
"His position does not extend him to involve himself in Irish internal affairs," the IRPWA Facebook post stated. "Not only did Mr. Vickers interfere with the right of an Irish citizen to peacefully protest in his own country he undermined the role of the Irish state and the Garda authority to deal with such protests."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the G7 Summit in Japan that he did not know all the detail of the incident and added that "if it lands on my table, I'll take a look at it."
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