Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has de­fend­ed the Gov­ern­ment’s use of emer­gency pow­ers, in­sist­ing that re­stric­tions im­posed un­der the State of Emer­gency (SoE), in­clud­ing the con­tro­ver­sial 500-me­tre no-protest zones, are law­ful, con­sti­tu­tion­al and nec­es­sary to pro­tect na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty.

Speak­ing dur­ing Wednes­day’s par­lia­men­tary de­bate on Gov­ern­ment’s mo­tion to ex­tend the SoE for a fur­ther three months, Per­sad-Bisses­sar ar­gued that crit­ics were ig­nor­ing a fun­da­men­tal prin­ci­ple of con­sti­tu­tion­al law.

“Any lawyer do­ing Law 101 knows that no rights are ab­solute. Con­sti­tu­tion­al rights are nev­er ab­solute,” she told the House.