« After longstanding speculation about whether Montreal’s anti-protest by-law P-6 can more effectively be challenged at the ballot box or in the courts, a court decision released on Thursday suggests that the answer is neither: sustained mass action and solidarity in the streets itself may be straining the court system to the point that P-6 will become unenforceable. (...) The judge lamented what he called a “Gordian Knot” that makes it impractical to prosecute P-6 tickets handed out en masse. When protesters are prosecuted through a multitude of individual trials, contradictory judgments are sure to result: One protester will be acquitted while another standing right next to her will be found guilty without any basis on which to explain the distinction. For Pelletier, these “contradictory decisions harm public perceptions of justice.” But when protesters are tried together en masse to avoid contradictory verdicts, the trial becomes a “monster”, in Pelletier’s words, too unwieldy to bring to a close in anything resembling a timely manner. »
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 19:49:36 +0000
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