No charges for protester arrested at Charlottetown council meeting
Instead, police have issued the woman with a no-trespassing order
Charlottetown Police will not be laying charges against a woman who was arrested after protesting at a Charlottetown city council meeting last month.
Instead, police have issued Daphnee Azoulay a no-trespassing order, which they felt was a more appropriate penalty than charges, said Deputy Police Chief Brad MacConnell.
"We felt that is in the best interest of the public and the circumstance and hopefully that the parties involved learn from this experience and we're not in a similar situation again anytime soon," MacConnell said.
Azoulay is with the P.E.I. chapter of Extinction Rebellion, a global grassroots group that wants zero carbon emissions by 2025. It launched in the U.K. last fall demanding governments tell the truth about climate change.
On March 11, Azoulay went to city hall with another protester while another member filmed their actions.
She walked into the inner chamber of Charlottetown city council after she was told she couldn't hold up a banner in the public seating area. The banner was also confiscated by a city official.
After refusing to leave the inner chamber she was handcuffed and forced out. Azoulay later told CBC News, "It was important for me to get the banner back because it's an emergency right now, to do something about climate change."
Azoulay wanted the city to declare a global climate emergency — that's something the city did end up doing earlier this week.
More P.E.I. news
With files from Jessica Doria-Brown