provincial legislature has been arrested and accused of breaking into and trashing the offices of a legislator of a party opposed to her father.
Yalda Machouf-Khadir, 19, was taken from the family home in handcuffs by Montreal police. She was one of six Quebecers arrested for trashing the office. Police later said her fingerprints were found inside the trashed office. She was also accused of vandalizing at least 
one other government office.
Her father is Amir Khadir, 51, the only member of the National Assembly, as the provincial legislature is called in Quebec, ever elected from the leftist QuÈbec Solidaire party.
He said he hoped the arrest of his daughter was not an attempt by the provincial government to intimidate him.
The arrests come at a time of great disorder in the province with students launching protests for weeks, some of which have turned violent, in opposition to the plans of the government to charge university students tuition.
The protests have expanded since the provincial government responded by introducing a bill in the legislature to restrict the rights of Quebecers to assemble. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, Monday criticized that bill as “alarming.” The Canadian federal government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper swiftly shot back that Pillay should spend more time on serious rights abusers like Iran, Belarus and Sri Lanka.
The federal and Quebec provincial governments are in the hands of rival parties, the Conservatives ruling federally and the Liberals in Quebec.
In a recent court hearing on Khadir’s daughter, Prosecutor Amelie Rivard described Yalda as one of the leaders of the mass student protest movement. She said police who search her home found flyers linked to CLAQ, an anti-capitalist group that has been involved in many student demonstrations, as well as instructions on how to make paint bombs.
In an interview, shown on the RDI network, Yalda said police were searching for articles of clothing, but left instead with newspapers and tracts.
“They probably did not find what they were looking for,” she said, suggesting the aim of the arrest was to intimidate protesters. “But it creates more anger,” Machouf said, noting other parents find themselves in the same situation.
Khadir was much milder. He said the police were doing their job and the courts would decide the issue.
“My daughter and myself are no different from other people who have been arrested or who have received fines,” he said, adding that everyone is equal before the law and “presumed innocent until proven otherwise.”
Khadir said he supports his daughter even if there is evidence she broke into government buildings. He declined to comment on the appearances of his daughter being accused of ransacking the offices of a member of the legislature opposed to her father’s party.
Khadir himself was detained, handcuffed and fined $494 under Quebec’s Highway Safety Code because he participated several days ago in a Quebec City demonstration declared by police to be illegal.
Khadir said his action was inspired by the civil disobedience of Martin Luther King and Mohandas Gandhi.
Asked who might be his daughter’s inspiration, Khadir suggested her mother, Nima Machouf, who, he said, was often in trouble with police in Iran for opposing the Islamic Republic.
Khadir said misconduct by the Liberal Party provincial government of Premier Jean Charest has transformed the tuition dispute into a “social dispute” involving others in addition to students. “This has led to many actions, generally legal and peaceful,” Khadir said.
“The Quebec government has largely contributed to the degradation of the social climate by refusing all acceptable compromise with the student movement and by imposing an odious law to infringe on democratic rights.”
The premier, Khadir said, “tries to intimidate the public. He tries to scare the public and intimidate the opposition.”
