Should Wearing Masks Be Outlawed?

Mexican police wearing masks- oh the irony…

I was just reading the Gangsters Out Blog when I ran across an article about Nicolas Licier, a man wanted for Cocaine charges in Victoria BC, being arrested in Mexico. It was the picture that was most interesting. In Mexico, it is the police who wear masks, not the criminals…

The Canadian government is currently considering legislation to make it illegal to wear a mask during a riot or an unlawful assembly. Now, I haven’t read any of the proposed legislation but if it is only about wearing during riots, and not during demonstrations, I’m totally okay with this. That said, I’m somewhat on the fence about wearing masks during a demonstration. It seems to me that would be a step too far.

This leads us to the question of what is a riot? Well, up to this weekend, I would have thought that an event would only be called a riot if people are rioting. But, after Derrick Soberal was arrested for “Inciting a Riot” for blocking traffic in Ottawa this weekend, we now have to reconsider…

So, despite how much I’d like to see the juvenile idiots who do dumb Black Bloc shit be stopped in their tracks, I just can’t see myself supporting this bill. It just seems too much like a tool that could be easily misused. Before we can consider accepting such a law, we should first have laws that hold the police responsible when they impose unfair charges to deter demonstrations…

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