More noise fines for pro-Palestinian demonstrators

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators are making their dissatisfaction heard after Ottawa's bylaw department issued another nine tickets for noise violations at a weekend protest.

The citations come a week after three ticketsworth $490 each were issuedDec. 23 at a similar march against Israel's actions in the latest war with Hamas and presence in thePalestinian territories.

Sarah Abdul-Karim, a member of the Ottawa chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement, said the Dec. 30 tickets are a frustrating distraction from their message and an attempt to silence protesters.

"We want our protests to be focused on our people back home, who are suffering and dying," she said over Zoom on Monday.

"We want it to be focused on our government's inaction and not so much on these bylaw tickets."

Her organization and others have regularly drawnhuge crowds downtown since thiswar beganin October.

Hamas's Oct. 7 attackinto southern Israel killed around 1,200 people, with some 240 otherstaken hostage. In the weeks since,Israel's air, ground and sea assault in Gaza has killed more than 22,100 people there, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press aheaduntil Hamas is crushed and the more than 100 hostages still held by the militant group in Gaza are freed, which he has said could take several more months.

Sound amplification devices the issue, city says

After the first three tickets, the city's director of bylaw and regulatory servicessaid enforcement at demonstrations is a result of "escalated actions by the participants, which may pose nuisance and public safety issues."

For its part, the city says it respects the right to peacefully demonstrate.

In an emailed statement following the most recent round of tickets,director Roger Chapman said bylaw officershave been working with organizers to educate them andfollowed a progressive enforcement model.

"As the activities of protests escalated and became more frequent, including the defacement of property, the use of sound reproduction devices, smoke bombs, fireworks, and threats towards our officers, [By-law and Regulatory Services] took action to address these concerns," he said.

Warnings were issued at first aboutthe use of sound amplificationdevices, Chapman said, with nine tickets following.

The city also clarified that all the tickets issued at both demonstrations have been for the operation of sound reproduction devices on a highway or public placeand not for any of the other acts Chapman mentioned.

Councillor calls ticketing 'absurd'

Abdul-Karim said people have used smoke bombs duringpast demonstrations, but after police alerted organizers that peoplewould be ticketed they were asked to stop.

She said the group has used the same sound system at its various gatherings, adding they've used even more speakers without issue at past protests.

"It seems like bylaw is very much picking and choosing where to apply thisbylaw that they're claiming to ticket us with," she said.

In a statement on social media, SomersetCoun. Ariel Troster called ticketing people for using a megaphone at a protest"absurd."

"I have no power to direct the work of bylaw, but I can state publicly when I think that something seems off or inappropriate," she told CBC.

MPP ticketed

Ottawa Centre NDP MPP Joel Harden was one of the demonstrators ticketed after bringing a megaphone to last weekend'sevent. It started in both his riding and Troster's ward.

He said the enforcement sends the wrong message and he didn't notice a substantial change in the volume level.

"What I have seen recentlyis an infringement upon what I believe to be constitutionally protected speech," he said.

"We have to have a space in our city to make sure that people who are grieving, who are profoundly sad,can impact the policies of their government."

Harden says, despite the frustration over the fines, a great amount of dialogue has happened between the protesters and bylaw services in the background.

"It's not as if it's so polarized and so contentious that people aren't talking to each other," he said.