A note to Winnipeg's militant green-minded cyclists -- risking the lives of ambulance patients is almost surely going to kill any progress you make with politicians.

That point was made yesterday by Mayor Sam Katz, who came out swinging after reading in the Sun that many riders in a group of 150 Critical Mass protesters had held up an ambulance while it tried to take a critically ill patient to hospital.

"I'm very angry to hear that," Katz told the Sun.

"I have to question their thought process when they are supposedly trying to make a point, and yet doing something like that. I mean, you have to separate this. Are these law-abiding citizens, or are they breaking laws and jeopardizing lives? That's what this really comes down to."

Frustrated paramedics found their vehicle delayed by the cyclists Friday afternoon during the latest of the loosely organized group's monthly protest rides -- in which Critical Mass supporters pedal en masse, often in an illegal manner, to push their point that bicycles should hold greater rein over public streets.

LOSE CREDIBILITY

The mayor stressed that legal demonstrations are part of Canada's everyday life, though protesters' messages lose credibility quickly when they're sent in a way that endangers others.

"When I read about this, I could not believe it. I just could not believe it," Katz said of the ambulance's holdups at two points along the cyclists' protest route.

"This begs the question, 'What are you really up to? Do you respect human life?' That's a matter of life and death, and everybody should respect an ambulance or fire truck when they're out there trying to save people."

Critical Mass riders have largely laid low since word of the ambulance's delays emerged in the past couple of days.

However, protester Marcel Lennon claimed this week that police officers cycling with the group to monitor the demonstration did more to hamper the ambulance than Critical Mass riders.

Mike Mager of CAA Manitoba said it's crucial for cyclists and motorists to share the streets responsibly, as the law demands.

"If they've got a point to make, doing it by congesting traffic flow is not proper," Mager said of the cyclists. "It's somewhat overt and militant. It creates a situation in which motorists are frustrated and angry, and that's not how they should get their point across."