AFP Photo / Stan Honda

A new Canadian law forbids people from wearing a mask or covering their face during a riot or so-called “unlawful assembly” in the country. The law carries a maximum ten-year sentence for anyone convicted of physically concealing their identity. Current Canadian law already forbids covering the face during a criminal act, although CBC reported that the statue, which criminalizes “disguise with intent,” generally applies to robberies. Police departments across the nation have called on lawmakers to lower the burden of proof for investigators trying to prove a mask was used for the sole purpose of hiding a demonstrator’s identity. Municipal authorities have also sought to stiffen penalties in the wake of recent violent riots in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and other cities. The newly approved bill, institued Wednesday, expands police authority into unlawful assemblies, which is defined by Canadian law as a party of three or more people who “disturb the peace tumultuously” or “needlessly and without reasonable cause provoke other persons to disturb the peace tumultuously.” The law does allow exceptions for those who are able to prove they have a “lawful excuse” for concealing their face, such as for religious or medical purposes. That person may also be subject to charges of participating in a riot, though, said bill author Blake Richards, a conservative MP who spoke with CBC. “When trouble starts, people intent on criminal activity depend on being able to ‘mask up’ to conceal their faces with bandanas, balaclavas or other means to avoid being identified and being held accountable for their actions,” Richards said when the bill was initially tabled in 2011, seemingly implying that arresting someone with a mask on is prohibitively difficult for Canadian law enforcement. “Wearing a mask in these circumstances is an aggravating factor for their behavior that should be reflected in the law.” The bill originally proposed imprisoning an offender for five years, but that sentence doubled to ten years after conservative lawmakers greeted the idea enthusiastically. Privacy advocates and civil libertarians have opposed the bill since its inception, saying vague language like the “lawful excuse” exception leaves major questions unanswered. “I think it is a more symbolic bill than it is a response,” said Natalie Des Rogers, general counsel with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. “In our view, it shouldn’t come into law, there is no demonstrable need for this.” “You cannot have a limit that is not prescribed by law, that is not clear to the citizens,” she continued. “We have the right to know what is expected of us. When there is vague language in the context where it infringes a freedom prescribed by the Charter, it becomes an unreasonable limit.” Similar laws exist in Europe and in the US, where Occupy Wall Street demonstrators were apprehended for violating an anti-mask law that was enacted in 1845 to prevent farmers from protesting eviction by landowners.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin speaks during a media conference at the conclusion of the G8 summit at the Lough Erne resort near Enniskillen in Northern Ireland on June 18, 2013.(AFP Photo / Matt Dunham)

There is no proof that the Syrian government used chemical weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the G8 summit. Some of the G8 countries share this view, he added. “We do not have any facts of the use of such weapons by the Syrian government. I assure you, that by no means all the G8 members believe that they were used,” Putin said. The Russian President stressed he “never felt isolated” at the summit despite the difference in views, and said the G8 leaders have been seeking a common solution to the Syrian conflict. Supplying arms to the rebels based on unconfirmed reports that chemical weapons were used by the Assad government would further destabilize Syria, Putin warned. Putin urged Western nations not to be hasty in arming the Syrian opposition, saying that such weapons could fall into the wrong hands, or be uncontrollable.

“I call on all our partners to think twice before making such steps. It is a very dangerous stuff,” the Russian president said, pointing to the “horrible” and “tragic” Woolwich murder. There are “loads of such criminals fighting for the [Syrian] opposition, who could commit a brutal murder like this,” he stressed. However, Putin did not rule out Russia signing new arms contracts with the Syrian government. The Russian president stressed that all such contracts comport with international law: “We are supplying arms under legal contracts to the legitimate government. It is the government of the President Assad. And if we are going to make such contracts, then we will deliver.”  Russia and the United States will spearhead the development of a peace plan for Syria, Putin said. The G8 countries have agreed that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the US Secretary of State John Kerry will take on “main role and the main burden of responsibility” for working out the principles of the solution to the crisis, he added. Tuesday’s communique by the G8 nations calling for an end to the fighting in Syria represents a “much better outcome” than was expected, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. Harper also apparently changed his view on Russia’s role in Syrian conflict talks, saying there has been “a very significant move on the part of Mr. Putin and the Russians.”