Thread

Montreal adopts bylaw banning insults against police, municipal employees

80 points · 84 comments · MC995

petcat · 1790176685 · focus · HN ↗
Something similar was attempted in Houston in the 1980s and the US Supreme Court struck it down as a clear 1st Amendment violation [1]
> The Constitution does not allow such speech to be made a crime. The freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state.
[1] <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/482/451" rel="nofollow">https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/482/451
1. andy99 · 1790177373 · focus · HN ↗
  Canada has a charter of rights and freedoms, but there’s a section that allows governments to override it at will so it’s effectively worthless. And nobody knows that better than Quebec.
  1. fred_is_fred · 1790178613 · focus · HN ↗
    In Quebec's version of this law it's legal to insult politicians and police - but only in French.
    red-iron-pine · 1790189465 · focus · HN ↗
    the sad part is I can't tell if this is true or not

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