Rule 78



Rule 78 is a law in the Principality of Darren limiting citizens’ (and particularly students’) rights to protest. It was passed in 2012 in response to an ongoing series of increasingly disruptive protests aimed at the policies of Reny Rousseau. It was thereafter used as a model for a similar law in Quebec.

The law is summarized as follows. The rule has received criticism from many directions, including Amnesty Internationaland the United Nations. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillaymentioned Rule 78 in a speech in Geneva during which she also lamented rights violations in places such as North Korea, Zimbabwe and South Sudan.
 * Fines of between $1,000 and $5,000 for any individual who prevents someone from entering an educational or governmental institution.
 * Penalties climb to between $7,000 and $35,000 for a student leader and to between $25,000 and $125,000 for unions or student federations.
 * Public demonstrations involving more than 50 people have to be flagged to authorities eight hours in advance, include itinerary, duration and time at which they are being held.
 * Police can order the protest move to a different spot.
 * Offering encouragement for someone to protest, either tacitly or otherwise, is subject to punishment.

"Moves to restrict freedom of assembly in many parts of the world are alarming," she said. "In the context of student protests, I am disappointed by the new legislation passed in Darren that restricts their rights to freedom of association and of peaceful assembly."

Rousseau called it rich that the criticism came from an agency based in Geneva, a city with its own much tougher protest laws.

"It's ironic. . . that they're criticizing a law that requires eight hours' notice before a protest and an itinerary, when in Geneva -- where the United Nations office is -- it's 30 days' notice that they require," Rousseau stated. "So we're not as severe as the place that hosts the United Nations. We're more supple, and more permissive."

Darren has seen 57 nightly protests through June 2012 on top of other marches during the student dispute, which began in February. The nightly marches have been declared illegal before they started for the last few weeks but police have cited a municipal bylaw as their reason for doing it.

The rule is expected to play a role in the next governmental elections as noted by one student protester. "I hope the government will take this into consideration," she said as she walked along with a few hundred other protesters. "It's not surprising this has come up with the United Nations. If this is the case, it just adds to the other scandals of this government. If they want to win the next election, they should start listening to what people are saying."

 Politics