MONTREAL- The charges laid against four people accused of bringing the metro system to a halt last week had not been heard of by many Quebecers.
François Vivier-Gagnon, Genevieve Vaillancourt, Vanessa L'Ecuyer and Roxanne Belisle are charged with committing a hoax regarding terrorist activity.
Political Theory professor Dr. Jacob Levy says although relatively recent, the charges are appropriate, since they concern "something that could stimulate fear in the population for political purposes without committing a violent act."
"We need to be careful with using statutes with terrorism in the title for political prosecutions and i think we should err on the side of not doing so, but this is a carefully worded statute that gets pretty well at what actually happened," said Levy.
"Subways have been attacked in London and Tokyo, and to create a panic and a fear that an attack is underway in a subway system is a serious thing to do."
However Levy thinks that banning masks at protests may go too far.
"Think about a gay rights protest 20 years ago, 30 years ago," said Levy. "There is a legitimate season for wanting to keep your own identity concealed sometimes."
For the rest of the interview click the video player.
