Peter MacKay might as well try to stop time or turn the tide as end the sex trade — the explicit hope of the federal justice minister’s new prostitution law.

The International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers Wednesday highlighted the traction opponents of the bill are starting to achieve.

In one development, academics, lawyers and civil liberties activists petitioned B.C. Premier Christy Clark to reject the federal government’s new prostitution laws by refusing to prosecute people who are caught buying sexual services.

In another, 190 legal experts from across the country expressed their concern at the direction Ottawa has taken with its new law, saying it likely violates the Charter of Rights & Freedoms.

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