Pro-Palestinian protest group plans to fight $1,500 noise infraction tickets in court

An organizer of recent protests in support of Palestinians in the ongoing Gaza conflict says she’s shocked and disappointed by the city’s decision to hand out bylaw noise infractions at the event, noting that the event has gone on for over 10 weeks with no issues.

Sarah Abdul-Karim, a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement, confirmed Sunday that three tickets, at $490 each, were handed out during Saturday afternoon’s event.

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“Each person who was on the (microphone) got a ticket,” she said.

“I was the main person who remained on the mic with the big sound system and then two individuals who had megaphones also received tickets.”

Calling for “no Christmas as usual,” the rally kicked off at about 3 p.m., with protesters gathering by the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights monument on Elgin Street. The group marched from the monument down Rideau Street, before making their way through the ByWard Market and back.

Ahead of the march, Abdul-Karim said officials had warned that tickets would be given out at $490 per microphone. She said protesters were told they could have 20 minutes with the speaker system at the monument but the group could not march with the speakers.

“We took the decision to still continue marching, despite their threats, which is when they began issuing tickets,” Abdul-Karim said.

“We plan to fight these tickets in court, we’ll be getting in touch with lawyers, (because) this is a clear effort to suppress our mobilizations.”

Abdul-Karim said the bylaw tickets were part of “increased hostility from City of Ottawa bylaw officers and from the Ottawa police. I believe that this is like in an effort to stop us from doing these protests, given that it’s our 11th weekend in a row where we have these weekend protests.”

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The tickets that were handed out were under noise bylaw No. 2017-255, which includes a subsection that “no person shall operate or use or cause to be operated or used any sound reproduction device on any highway or other public place.”

According to the City of Ottawa website, fines for this kind of bylaw infraction can range anywhere from $400 to $10,000 per offence.

Hakima Moktary, who received a bylaw infraction at the event for using a megaphone, said she was caught off guard by the ticket.

“You can see that they’re fed up with these rallies,” Moktary said. “We’re fed up with these rallies, too. So they should do something, our government should do something.”

Over the past 10 weeks of protests, marches and rallies on Parliament and at the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights monument, Abdul-Karim said there have been no issues or warnings regarding the use of sound systems.

“I find it really disappointing. I think that Ottawa has a history of having protests with sound systems. These protests have been a way for us to express our freedom of speech and to make calls to our government and we have never had this issue before.”

This newspaper has reached out to the City of Ottawa and police for comment.

Going forward, Abdul-Karim said the group plans to keep going and using the sound systems, despite the tickets.

“This effort to silence us won’t deter our work and we’ll continue our work as usual,” Abdul-Karim said.

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