RootsBooster Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 There may be a niche for face-painting stalls at riots from now on then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeX Posted June 20, 2013 Author Share Posted June 20, 2013 I see the issue people are having as rioting is not the same as protesting. But the two are generally connected and a riot, in the majority of cases will start as a protest of sorts. People who want to riot do tend to wear masks from the start to hide their identity from the authorities. Banning this could stop some from causing trouble as they may think they can be identified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L00b Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 I see the issue people are having as rioting is not the same as protesting. But the two are generally connected and a riot, in the majority of cases will start as a protest of sorts. People who want to riot do tend to wear masks from the start to hide their identity from the authorities. Banning this could stop some from causing trouble as they may think they can be identified.Really? Professional troublemakers are going to stop wearing masks because now the Law of the Land says so, and thus stop causing trouble? I never figured you out as naive, Wex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeX Posted June 20, 2013 Author Share Posted June 20, 2013 Really? Professional troublemakers are going to stop wearing masks because now the Law of the Land says so, and thus stop causing trouble? I never figured you out as naive, Wex. nooo, those going to cause trouble invariably wear their masks from the start, when its nothing more then a protest, so they cannot be identified. If when there is a protest, these people can be taken out of the equation, they will not be able to cause trouble later. Remember the student protests and the london riots. The arrested that were covered in the media where just average people caught up in the moment. They where not the typical trouble maker. It doesn't make it right, but if these people intent on turning a protest into a riot, or looking for an excuse to cause trouble are weeded out from the start, then maybe protests will stop escalating and the principle reason for the protest not lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 That will foil all the SUPER-HEROS. Yeah. Cover totally blown in Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSmith Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 It is an interesting conundrum, but ultimately redundant: rioting/criminal damage has always been, and likely shall always be, illegal whereby we can reasonably expect that the prohibition of masks will be ineffective, since "perps" intent on rioting/criminal damage will still wear them, until and unless they're caught...just like now/before any such prohibition. IMHO, this proposal should be resisted, because all it would do effectively is, as with many such proposals (and ever more of them, e.g. ACTA and the like), adding its stone to the altar on which our civil liberties are being ever-more eroded, for no real progress/benefit. Which would be an arrestable offense so could therefor prevent said rioting/criminal damage before it happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeX Posted June 20, 2013 Author Share Posted June 20, 2013 Which would be an arrestable offense so could therefor prevent said rioting/criminal damage before it happens. That's my point so in-eloquently put in my earlier post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L00b Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Which would be an arrestable offense so could therefor prevent said rioting/criminal damage before it happens.Here was me thinking that rioting (trouble of the peace, perpetrating criminal damage, failing to comply, etc, etc. take your pick/cumulate as needed) was an arrestable offense already... Right, so if I get you and WeX correctly, dozens/hundreds/more of perps will be grabbed from amongst the protesters and arrested the very second they whip their masks out of their coats/rucksacks and put them on, before they've had any chance of troubling the peace...right? I'm not being deliberately obtuse, here. I just would like to see a convincing argument as to how making face masks unlawful (presumably, only within the context of a protest event) is going to prevent the rent-a-mob from carrying on as before. I'd have though a count of 'wearing a face mask' would pretty much get lost in the noise of other, graver charges (alluded to above) after an arrest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSmith Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Here was me thinking that rioting (trouble of the peace, perpetrating criminal damage, failing to comply, etc, etc. take your pick/cumulate as needed) was an arrestable offense already... It is, but if they have a mask on and the police don't catch them in the act they won't be court, whereas a man walking down the road wearing a mask with the intention of throwing a brick through a window can be arrested before throwing said brick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert_Baehr Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires that (in most cases) mens rea and actus reus are both vital ingredients of a crime. "Wearing a mask [with intent to] riot to become a criminal act in Canada" 'Wearing a mask'. Actus Reus - no problem there. The 'mens rea' is the intent to riot. If the Police catch somebody who is rioting and is also wearing a face mask, then they could probably prove mens rea - but they could also simply prosecute him/her for rioting. If they arrest somebody who is wearing a mask but not rioting, how are they going to prove 'mens rea'? What's the point of the law? - Are criminal law practitioners in Canada so under-employed that they need a chance to make more money from the State? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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