This is the Face of a Peace Activist, not a threat to public safety.
Joshua Enns is released from Eastern Ave. detention centre on Monday, June 28, 2010. (Photo by Tannis Toohey/Toronto Star) Joshua Enns says he was at a prayer vigil and David Breed says he was out for a walk when both were arrested yesterday and found themselves at the Eastern Ave. detention centre. Both had pocket knives on them and face concealed weapons charges. Enns, who is studying to be a math student, says he was strip searched and moved from cell to cell, unable to talk to a lawyer. He was “passing peace” to officers on the front lines when four officers took him into custody. He was wearing a black T-shirt that reads, “Peace.” He says he was driven around for hours and spent five hours in pain because he had to pee. “I hope this is cleared up so I’ll be able to teach,” he says. He says he uses is dollar-store knife to cut fruit. Breed, a security guard at Molson Amphitheatre, says he and his girlfriend were watching the bike rally and thinking about brunch when he was taken into custody. His girlfriend, waiting outside the detention centre for him, had lawyers numbers scrawled in her arm. (via G20 — Toronto 2010
I’m not going to comment on the relative worth of his activities, as I have no idea what he was doing, but I will say one thing: HE BROUGHT A KNIFE TO A RALLY. It doesn’t particularly matter what kind of knife, he brought a knife to a rally. Even if he never intended to use it as a weapon, the charged atmosphere should have been enough to at least think twice about it. Is he a threat to public safety? Hardly. But wearing all black to a G20 summit and bringing a knife in your pocket doesn’t make it particularly easy to distinguish that.
I definitely agree that he shouldn’t have had a knife on him, but he carries it regularly and probably forgot about. The criminal code is very vague on the definition of a “weapon”(pocket knife usually is not included) but technically they would need reasonable cause to arrest him initially so it sounds like the charges are unfounded.
Also, when I think of “wearing all black” I think of Black Bloc tactics.