Friday, November 18, 2011

#jackbootshit: Five years for wearing a mask?

"Trouble...mob...riot?" Judging by his language, Alberta MP Blake Richards seems to see any protest gathering as something that should be illegal, because it is clearly "trouble" starting.

“When trouble starts, people intent on criminal activity depend on being able to 'mask up' to conceal their faces with bandanas, balaclavas or other means to avoid being identified and being held accountable for their actions,” Richards said in a statement last month when the bill was tabled. “Wearing a mask in these circumstances is an aggravating factor for their behaviour that should be reflected in the law."
He claims the police want this. Of course they do. They like finding ways of arresting people doing little more than standing in the street at protests. Secret laws, lies, kettles, and cages. Mask-wearing? You must be a Black Bloc window-smasher.


Of course, if this passes, everyone at every protest is going to show up wearing  masks. Blake Richards masks.

Occupy. #jackbootshit

9 comments:

Steve said...

One can only imagine the 4 years of garbage laws this group will pass.

Anonymous said...

Yes, you're right. People should most definitely be able to wear masks and go on a rampage through the streets burning cars and smashing windows

Boris said...

WWU, Ah, I see you miss the key distinction. There is a difference between wearing a mask and going on a rampage. There are lots of mask-wearers at protests, and some of them do sometimes commit acts of violence. Some of them are actually police agents provocateur...

There are already laws aplenty against people smashing windows and rampaging, giving police a good set of tools. By making masks illegal, this law, aside from a possible Charter violation, means that police can arrest people before they've been observed to carry out an order or property offence.

Cliff said...

Has somebody forgotten we live in a country where the mercury can drop below minus 40? If the choice is breaking the law by wearing a baclava and having frostbite make my nose slough off some blustery day at a demonstation I know what my choice will be.

Anonymous said...

There are many ways to make your voice heard other than being out in a protest. I suppose all those mask-toting hoods who rampaged through downtown Vancouver were just your average model citizens.

Boris said...

WWU, you mean the middle-class drunk white kids pissed about a hockey result?

And the suggestion that people find other venues of free expression than collectively gathering in the street is appallingly authoritarian.

Rev.Paperboy said...

the police always take videos of the crowd at any demonstration, and with the facial recognition software they have these days, I'm sure they have a file on anyone who shows up for any kind of protest. Given that, why shouldn't we go masked?

and WWU there are lots of other ways of making your voice heard, but I can't afford to hire a lobbying firm and there is no point writing to my MP as I don't think he can actually read anything that isn't printed on a cheque.

kootcoot said...

The level of masked police cowardice is even more noteworthy when one considers the fact that the police can generally assault, kill and otherwise abuse citizens at will on film (Vancouver airport, the newspaper man assaulted by drunk cops in Vancouver, the sexual assaults on women by the Ottawa police, etc. etc. and be rewarded with paid holidays ala Monty Robinson of the Dziezanzki hit squad and hit and run killing of a motorcyclist.......

"there is no point writing to my MP as I don't think he can actually read anything that isn't printed on a cheque."

SWEET!!!!!!

ThinkingManNeil said...

So what, then, WWU? You'd rather us be quiet, be good little obedient Canadians, stay at home, close our eyes and think of the Queen while Harper and those of his neocon ilk push us ever deeper into in increasingly militaristic police state and fuck us over six ways from Sunday? Careful, son; your "sheep" is starting to bleed through...