Mar. 7, 2001. 12:36 PM The Toronto Star Quebec City suburb nixes anti-scarf bylaw Mayor reverses ban aimed at Summit of the Americas protesters QUEBEC (CP) - A bylaw passed by a Quebec City suburb to bar people from concealing their faces with scarves or masks at the Summit of the Americas has been scrapped. Ste-Foy Mayor Andree Boucher said she ''listened to her conscience'' and decided to respect individual rights and the presumption of innocence. ''Too often in other countries, laws have been abusively applied,'' she said yesterday. The bylaw, adopted for the April 20-22 summit in Quebec City, had made it illegal to ''wear or have in your possession a mask, hood or ski mask, or any other object of the same nature to cover one's face, in whole or in part.'' A civil liberties group had said the bylaw could have given police a reason to detain protesters unnecessarily. ''We agree summit-goers should be able to go about their work peacefully, but people also need to be able to gather freely and express themselves,'' Andre Paradis, head of Quebec's Ligue des Droits et Libertes, said recently. Police had said that even though the summit is to be held in downtown Quebec City, they feared protesters would cause trouble at the airport, which is in neighbouring Ste-Foy. Security will be tight at the summit, where international free trade deals and globalization will be discussed. Five thousand police officers will be on hand for the event. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: Radical anti-capitalist environmental discussion. http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/rad-green ---- Leninist-International: Building bridges in the tradition of V.I. Lenin. http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht _______________________________________________ CrashList website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
