[TriLUG] Ubuntu 16.04 - /proc delete directories not permitted

[mr-trilug via TriLUG]

I ran a backup script I believe had worked before.
Result was /proc filled directories and subdirectories. Most with 41 
directories/files.
Permissions are typically  -rw-r--r--. Owner:Group = root:root.
using cli for just one  such directory:
     "/proc$ sudo rm -rf  1/sm*
     [sudo] password for mver:
     rm: cannot remove '1/smaps': Permission denied"

There are 131071 Gb of directories/files there in /proc most of it nonsense
Attempts to  sudo chown mver:mver/ or sudo chmod 0555 or 0777 fail to 
change anything (although the -v parm suggests that the changes are been 
attempted but not permitted.

The problem started with:

"sudo tar -cpzf bkupUb16.04-${dt}.tar.gz --exclude='bkupUb'* 
--exclude='/home' --exclude='/media'  --exclude='/mnt' --exclude='/tmp' 
--one-file-system / home"  where $dt was a date string.

Your thoughts?
With thanks, Mike R.