03 July 2010

The damned-if-they-did, damned-if-they-didn't defence

In an interesting article in yesterday's Globe and Mail, reporter John Lorinc asks lawyer Peter Rosenthal, who has defended activists in court, about the following:

Some people say the police were damned-if-they-did and damned if they didn't.

To which my response is: the same could be said, even more so, of the G20 detainees.

Police told people to leave ... but blocked all exits.

Police told people they had the law on their side - to ask whomever they pleased for identification; to fail to identify themselves or give their badge numbers; to search people's possessions and their persons, including their body cavities; to 'deny' people their right to legal representation by means of postponement techniques; to arrest and/or detain citizens without informing them of the crime they have purportedly committed - ... but such a law didn't exist.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't?

The people who were marching for various freedoms last weekend, including the freedom to assemble, were damned no matter what they did.

H/t @impolitical for the link to that article.

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