I live in Montreal. The Liberal Party, the current ruling party in our provincial government, decided to raise tuition fees for university students. So for about three months now, a good chunk of university students have been on strike against the fee hikes.
While there have been a few peaceful demonstrations, including a huge one downtown on March 22nd, there have also been many less peaceful demonstrations. For example, a few days ago at a Liberal Party conference in Victoriaville, a demonstration devolved into violence. Tear gas, rubber bullets, the lot. A few protesters were hurt, and a policeman was outright beaten by multiple so called protesters.
Unrelated to protests and violence, but just to show you how bad it's become, yesterday, during morning rush hour, smoke bombs were set off in our metro, paralyzing it completely. No service on any line. That was the latest in a series of similar incidents, including previous smoke bombs in the metro and the blocking of bridges.
All that to say that it's an ugly situation, made even more ugly because it's being exploited by people who have nothing to do with the student cause. Anarchists, criminals, call them whatever you want, show up at protests and start trouble. Usually they are masked. You have the right to express an opinion publicly, but you do not necessarily have a right to do so anonymously, especially if you're not really trying to express an opinion, but rather are trying to break a few windows, burn a few cars, and throw rocks at a few policemen.
I know that it's a slippery slope, and that he who gives up a little liberty for a little security deserves neither, but we've shown that large peaceful protests can happen, and that at this point, it's no longer about freedom of anything, it's about preventing crime. And I remind you that John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory works in real life as well. So take away the anonymity, and you might just end up with fewer total fuckwads.