A crowd gathered outside a Halifax court house Tuesday morning to show support for those who protested the city takedown of temporary homeless shelters this summer.
It’s a sign there is momentum building to put pressure on the prosecution to drop charges against 24 people arrested during the chaotic protests.
Defence lawyer Asaf Rashid believes the Crown should drop them because it is not in the public interest to proceed.
He represents 17 of 24 people arrested on August 18.
Many of them had their first court day on Tuesday.
Rashid says those who were evicted from municipal property had no where to else to go and he can ask at any time for the charged to be dropped. However, he wants to wait until both sides have had time to review all the evidence.
Not much took place inside the courtroom as the matter was pushed ahead and the next time it will be before a judge will be November 4.
The courthouse is directly across the street from where police and protestors clashed over the removal of temporary crisis shelters at the old Halifax library. Protestors formed a human wall to prevent the wooden huts from being torn down, one man even sat atop one of the buildings to protect it.
NDP Leader Gary Burrill joined the protests that day, and delivered a passionate speech today.
NDP Leader Gary Burrill gives a passionate speech outside court on Spring Garden Road. pic.twitter.com/bmsT67cJVm
— Hot Country 103.5! (@HotCountry1035) October 5, 2021
Burrill says the government has let people down.
“We would not need to be here today but for the abject, utter, comprehensive failure at every level of governments, in the plural,” Burrill says.
With files from Steve MacArthur
