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Activists get off Yves Manseau is back at work and Alexandre Popovic is no longer underground. >> Manseau, one of the police watchdog activists who received a wake-up visit and arrest from the MUC police two weeks ago ["Cops versus COBPs", Feb 26], was in Quebec superior court last Thursday to appeal the bail condition that prohibited him from going to the courthouse. In his decision, Judge Benjamin Greenberg agreed that someone working on police brutality issues needs access to the provincial and municipal courthouses. The bail condition was dropped. >> MUC Police had also charged Manseau with breaching his previous bail conditions, and wanted him held in jail until his trial. Judge Greenberg quashed this accusation, given that Manseau had successfully contested all his prior conditions. Crown prosecutor Pierre Garon, who presented no evidence, was visibly annoyed by the judgment. >> Meanwhile, Popovic--another activist sought by police--resurfaced this weekend and appeared in court on Monday. But rather than try to detain him as they did with Manseau, the Crown heeded the judge's better wisdom and released Popovic with conditions that do not attempt to restrict his activism. --Bernard Cooper
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