Ontario revamps WWII-era G-20 law

TORONTO, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A World War II-era security law Canadian police invoked for the Group of 20 summit in Toronto in June 2010 was overhauled Wednesday.

The Ontario provincial Liberal government acted on recommendations from former Chief Justice Roy McMurtry, who reviewed the Public Works Act and found it to be too over-reaching in the powers it gave police and security officials, the Toronto Star said.

The original law was passed in 1939 as a tool to thwart Nazi saboteurs in public places. The scaled-back version narrows extraordinary police rights to courthouses and power plants, the Star said.

Protesters, civil libertarians and the liberal media dubbed it the "secret" law after allegations emerged from the G20 summit that police had overstepped their authority.

Some 1,105 people were arrested in violent confrontations with police at fenced-off venues, police cars were torched and masked looters ran rampant, smashing windows and setting garbage fires.

Only two of the people charged faced trial under the old Public Works Act, the report said.