Arrests on Carleton campus

Ottawa police arrested four Carleton students and one other person in connection to a pro-life protest at about 9:30 a.m. Oct. 4, police said.
Ruth Lobo, president of Carleton's pro-life club, was one of the individuals arrested, Lobo said.
The five people were on campus to set up a visual display in Carleton's quad showcasing images of abortion and comparing it to genocides such as the Holocaust, Lobo said.
Jason MacDonald, director of Carleton's department of university communications, said the group had requested to set up in the Academic Quad but were told to set up in Porter Hall.
"They indicated that they wouldn't respect the fact that we told them they didn't have permission to set up in the quad," MacDonald said.
The five people were handcuffed and escorted to Carleton's department of university safety.
MacDonald said all five were charged under Ontario's Trespass to Property Act.
They have now been released with Provincial Offense Notices.
The fifth individual was a Queen's University student who came to Carleton to support the cause, Lobo said.
By 11:30 a.m. all five individuals were released.

—Hilary Roberts and Caitlin Teed, the Charlatan
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/CharlatanLive

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ottawa police
• pro-life
• protestors
• carleton university
• protest
• university safety

[mikefastener]

@Pseudologic I do agree....unfortunately, guilt by association and the police did not have (or want) the ability to separate.

[Pseudologic]

@searchPersonhoodTV Would you hire an equally well-spoken person who completely disagrees with you? Or are you a hypocrite?

[Pseudologic]

@mikefastener Actually, those people were never arrested. When police saw the hooded morons approach they just left and allowed the hooligans to destroy a squad care. While the actually peaceful protesters were bullied, arrested and insulted. I agree with you that destruction of property warrants an arrest, but a lot of people arrested had nothing to do with hooliganism.

[mikefastener]

@Pseudologic Yes, if they were breaking store windows or burning police cars, I agree, they would (and should) be detained.

Clear demarcation....don't you agree?

[searchPersonhoodTV]

Heros....all 3 of them. And that gal who stood up to the police and the University suit, I'd hire her in a minute after she gets out of college. She is very well spoken.

[violetkitten831]

@crycavity No, they can not fend for themselves. Fine, nitpick. It's what you kind of people do best. Let me specify.

A fetus that cannot live outside the womb (i.e. does not have the physical capacity to maintain normal bodily functions like breathing...) is a fetus, and a toddler or infant can be cared for by anyone... not just the mother. Also, a fetus takes nutrients from the mother's body. An infant doesn't have to even take milk from the mother's body to survive.

[Pseudologic]

@mikefastener Speaking of hypocrisy. If it were left-wing protesters, the police wouldn't be trying to reason with them. Just detain them without a charge for 2 days.

[Pseudologic]

You have an ethical responsibility to safeguard people from potentially disturbing material, not just shove it in their faces. I'm a Carleton business grad and even I know that. I don't want to see Holocaust images being used for political gains by a group that has not suffered neither from abortion nor from the Holocaust... (far-right Christians most of the time) Why must I be exposed to this rubbish if I happened to be walking through Tory quad? Where are my rights? Very very bad practice.

[vikfan79]

Just declaring itself a private school doesn't just make it so unless it refuses to accept federal aid. By accepting the aid, Carleton is subject to whatever constitutional rights are allowed to the public, just as a person could protest at the Capitol. That's the difference between Carleton and any other institution. An office or gym may be private because they don't accept federal aid, offered through taxes. (This is assuming Carleton accepts aid and Canadian laws are similar to the US)

[vikfan79]

I don't know what the law is up in Canada, but in the US, if a campus is publicly funded at all (for example, a person is awarded financial aid through the FAFSA), then that campus is subject to fulfill federal requirements, making it "public", not private (Grove City College v. Bell). The only private campus I know of in the US is Hillsdale in Michigan.

Therefore, if I were to protest in a similar way at my university, I would be completely covered by my constitutional rights.