Calgary police charging a pro-Palestinian demonstrator with allegedly causing a hate-motivated disturbance has ignited a national debate over whether a chant shouted by tens of thousands of Canadians over the past month should be outlawed as hate speech.
Meanwhile, some academics worry this charge signals a new Canadian crackdown on the political free speech of pro-Palestinian demonstrators that echoes restrictions in Europe, where some cities and countries have banned these protests altogether.
Alejandro Paz, a Jewish faculty member of the University of Toronto and an expert on Israel in the Middle East, said Calgary police are criminalizing legitimate speech that is not antisemitic or hateful.
“For me, as a scholar, as someone for whom all the people between the river and the sea are very important, this means that there will be freedom and equality for all,” said Dr. Paz, adding that he witnessed Israelis use a similar chant at massive pro-democracy protests in Tel Aviv this spring.
If the system functions as it’s intended to, a judge will decide later if the alleged bias that police say motivated the rally organizer to disturb the public has been proven and then hand a heavier punishment to Mr. Cooley, if he is found guilty.
Calgary police won’t explicitly say which phrase netted Mr. Cooley a charge, just that, beforehand, officers discussed “some of the language and signage” at past City Hall protests with the organizers of the rally and those leading a counterprotest in support of Israel happening across the street.
The original article contains 1,078 words, the summary contains 250 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Calgary police charging a pro-Palestinian demonstrator with allegedly causing a hate-motivated disturbance has ignited a national debate over whether a chant shouted by tens of thousands of Canadians over the past month should be outlawed as hate speech.
Meanwhile, some academics worry this charge signals a new Canadian crackdown on the political free speech of pro-Palestinian demonstrators that echoes restrictions in Europe, where some cities and countries have banned these protests altogether.
Alejandro Paz, a Jewish faculty member of the University of Toronto and an expert on Israel in the Middle East, said Calgary police are criminalizing legitimate speech that is not antisemitic or hateful.
“For me, as a scholar, as someone for whom all the people between the river and the sea are very important, this means that there will be freedom and equality for all,” said Dr. Paz, adding that he witnessed Israelis use a similar chant at massive pro-democracy protests in Tel Aviv this spring.
If the system functions as it’s intended to, a judge will decide later if the alleged bias that police say motivated the rally organizer to disturb the public has been proven and then hand a heavier punishment to Mr. Cooley, if he is found guilty.
Calgary police won’t explicitly say which phrase netted Mr. Cooley a charge, just that, beforehand, officers discussed “some of the language and signage” at past City Hall protests with the organizers of the rally and those leading a counterprotest in support of Israel happening across the street.
The original article contains 1,078 words, the summary contains 250 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!